Murphy’s Law
by Braelyn Rae
Summary: A dead dog, a car crash with no clue as to where she is, and her exfiancée looking for her... what else could go wrong in one day? Set after episode 7x15. JavaJunkie! COMPLETE!
1. The Nightmare Begins

Title: Murphy's Law

Summary: A dead dog, a car crash with no clue as to where she is and her ex-fiancée looking for her... what else could go wrong in one day? Set after episode 7x15. JavaJunkie!

Season: 7. This story is set somewhere between episodes: 'I'm A Kayak Hear Me Roar' and 'Gilmore Girls Only', basically before Luke and Lorelai started talking again.

Rating: T for (safety) and some mild language.

Pairings: Luke/Lorelai.

Disclaimer: I do not own this show, unfortunately, but if someone wants to give it to me, I'd be more then happy to accept! I promise it would go to a good home and there would be an eighth season, even if I had to kidnap Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel and force them to do it! … Just kidding.

A/N: This is my first Gilmore Girl's story, so I'm still trying to capture everyone's unique personality, and hopefully I've done okay. I wasn't sure exactly how Lorelai would react if her dog died so I talked to a few Gilmore Girl fans and they all agreed it'd probably be something like this... so, well, enjoy!

**Chapter 1: The Nightmare Begins **

With a start, Lorelai Gilmore sat up, feeling breathless. She glanced at her clock and was surprised to see it was barely after six a.m - her alarm hadn't even gone off yet. Crossing her arms protectively across her chest like she had done so many times when she was a little girl. She sat there, trying to recall her dream from the night before. She rarely bothered trying to remember her dreams, but this one was different. Something horrible had happened in it, but she couldn't remember _what _- only that it made her uneasy. Convincing herself that it was just a dream and it didn't mean anything, she pushed aside the covers and got out of bed. She headed straight for the bathroom, hoping a shower would help her.

Twenty minutes later, Lorelai exited the bathroom, feeling clean and fresh and slightly more prepared for her busy day. Slipping on a floral print top, she was searching for something to wear with it when the phone rang. It was Michel letting her know that the soap that The Dragonfly Inn had ordered had arrived last night- but instead of the non-fragrant soap they (and the guests) preferred, the entire order had been block after block of cappuccino soap. Lorelai loved coffee, but even _she_ preferred the plain soap. Promising Michel she'd be there shortly, she hung up and sighed.

Great. Another problem to deal with.

Slipping on her most comfortable dress pants, and grabbing the first pair of shoes she saw, she hurried downstairs, pulling her wet, messy curls back into a sloppy ponytail that she would have to fix when she got to work. "Paul Anka!" She called as she entered the kitchen, blinking as the bright morning rays of sun blinded her for a moment. After starting a pot of coffee and placing a few pop tarts in the toaster, she called again, "Paul Anka!"

To her surprise, he didn't appear. He was nearly always in the kitchen, awaiting his breakfast when she appeared downstairs.

Abandoning the pop tarts, she poked her head into Rory's room, half expecting to find the dog lying on the bed. He wasn't; in fact, there was no sign of him being in the room at all that morning. Slightly confused, she headed into the living room. "Paul Anka? Where are you, honey?" Lorelai tried again, heading upstairs to make sure she hadn't missed him when she had woken up. She checked her room thoroughly before going downstairs to check the rest of the house with no success.

She was starting to panic; while Paul Anka was an unusual dog with unusual quirks, his quirky routine rarely altered. And he nearly always came when called.

She started to check outside when she realized that there was one room she hadn't checked - the downstairs bathroom. Paul Anka had been scared of that bathroom from the minute she had brought him home to the 'Crap Shack'. She wasn't entirely sure why, but she figured it had something to do with the toilet flushing. Paul Anka wouldn't have wandered in there… would he? Closing the front door, she found herself in front of the bathroom door a moment later; it was closed. Has Paul Anka, for some unknown reason, wandered in there, accidentally pushed the door closed and was then unable to get out?

"Paul Anka, honey, are you in there?" Pushing the door open, she froze at the sight in front of her. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting, but it wasn't this.

He was lying motionless on the floor next to the toilet. He looked almost as though he was sleeping, but she could tell he wasn't breathing.

Tears filled her eyes. Covering her mouth with her hands to keep herself from throwing up, she lowered herself next to the lifeless body. A moment later she managed to work up the courage to touch him; he was stiff. Pulling her hand back, she wrapped her arms around her legs and leaned against the wall. There was no doubt about it; Paul Anka was dead.

_Dead_.

Lorelai sat there for several long minutes, just staring at her dead pet. Tears continued to roll down and off her cheeks, but she didn't bother to wipe them away.

Paul Anka was dead.

Right then, the only thought on her mind was that everyone was right - she _did_ kill every pet she'd ever owned. She thought she was doing okay with Paul Anka though. What had she done wrong? She'd fed him daily and she even turned off the light and let him eat alone, just how he liked it. She made sure that Paul Anka always had water. Before she gave him a walk, she would always cover the steps the dog wouldn't be afraid, and she always stayed away from the places Paul Anka didn't like to be around.

What happened? Had she fed him too much? Was that even possible? Did he eat something poisonous on a walk? Had she neglected him in some way?

Slowly pushing herself up, she stepped out of the bathroom; not sure if she was going to throw up, she stayed just outside for a moment until the nausea went away. She watched her hands shake as she reached for the phone; she couldn't help but feel that somehow she had murdered someone, someone very dear to her. Paul Anka was more then just a pet, he was her friend and someone who had filled in the cracks after Rory went away at college and even more after her breakup with Luke. She liked the feeling of taking care of someone. In a way, she felt like she had lost a giant piece of her that could never be replaced.

Dialing a number she knew by heart, she turned back to the bathroom; she could only see Paul Anka's tail from the position she was in, but that was enough to make her back into the kitchen. Lorelai wasn't too surprised when Rory didn't answer the phone; she was probably still in class. After a moment, she decided to leave a voicemail.

"Hey, Rory," she began, her voice cracking as she spoke. She tried to make herself sound as though she hadn't been crying, though she knew there was no use - Rory was always able to tell. Swallowing, she continued, "It's me… your mom- Lorelai… you probably already know that. Um… I uh- I really, _really_ need you to call me back as soon as you get this message… Um, something's happened… and I just uh… reallyneed to speak to you… Please, please just call me back when you get this… bye."

After a few minutes of staring at the piece of plastic, she dialed her daughter again. "Hey, Rory, it's me, again." She sniffled as she wiped away the tears that continued to roll down her cheeks. "Um, I'm just… calling- again- to make sure you aren't out of class yet… but uh- you didn't answer so I think it's safe to say you're not. Please call me. I really… well, just call, okay?"

Hanging up the phone again, Lorelai let out a long sigh.

What was she going to do? Should she simply leave another message on Rory's phone and let her know their dog was dead? That seemed cold. As she stood there, trying to figure out what she was going to do, she realized by the time Rory listened to her messages, she could have driven to Yale and told her in person. She needed to see her daughter - she needed someone to comfort her. Her mind made up, she quickly grabbed her keys and made her way to her car.

**--- **

Rory excited her last class of the day with her hands full of books and in a desperate need for caffeine. She stopped by her favorite coffee cart for something to keep her awake the rest of the day; to her relief she found John was working - he always gave her a discount. Handing over the remainder of her money from her pocket, she took the coffee and hurried towards her car, balancing the cup on top of her books.

Once safely in her car, she let out a long sigh as she buckled her seatbelt. She had received a lower grade than usual on her philosophy paper due to Paris's schedule of events, and it made her slightly depressed.

Starting her engine, she pulled out her cell phone and checked her voicemail. The first one was from Logan, confirming their plans for dinner on Saturday night. She smiled, but as she began to listen to the first message left by her mother, the smile quickly faded into worry. Her mom had definitely been crying when she left the message – she said something happened, but didn't say what, and that worried Rory even more. As the message ended, Rory prepared to dial home when another message from her mother began to play.

Her mom had left _two_ messages begging her to call back? Something definitely was not right. Rory mentally castigated herself for not checking her messages earlier. Her mom had called hours ago. As she dialed their home phone number, she thought of all the possibilities why her mom could have called. Maybe it was something to do with the Inn; maybe the Dragonfly had burned down, or maybe something was wrong with Lane's twins, or her grandparents – the possibilities were endless and all rather frightening. After getting the answering machine, she tried her mom's cell phone but Lorelai didn't pick up.

As the young Gilmore began to worry even more after talking to Michel who told her that her mom hadn't even come in yet. That wasn't like her mother. She tried Sookie, Lane, everyone she could think of that might have seen her that morning but everyone answered to the negative.

No one had seen Lorelai Gilmore that morning.

**--- **

Lorelai had started towards Yale, but had broken down and ended up missing the exit. She couldn't think clearly; she felt like she was suffocating. Realizing that it probably wasn't wise to drive on a busy highway when unable to focus at all, she took the nearest exit off.

Her cell phone rang, but her thoughts were so loud she didn't even register the noise. Not a minute later, it began to rain; she absentmindedly turned on the windshield wipers.

She had killed Paul Anka. No matter how nicely she tried to phrase it, it always came back to the simple truth; she had killed her dog.

Wiping away some more fallen tears, she found herself leaving the main road and turning onto a smaller road, which was surrounded by large trees. She knew she shouldn't drive in unfamiliar territory but she needed to be doing something, _anything_

Lorelai jumped slightly when her cell phone rang again, interrupting her thoughts. Picking it up, she glanced at the caller ID; she stared at the small screen for a good minute. It was Rory. How was she going to tell her daughter that she had killed their first and very beloved dog? Suddenly a surge of anger overcame her and she threw the phone against the windshield, knocking the battery pack out of it; the ringing instantly stopped and silence took over the car once again.

Why had she taken the dog in the first place? She should have listened to everyone's advice and let Paul Anka go to a good owner- to someone who wouldn't have killed him.

Sniffing, she looked out her window as she drove; raindrops splattered against it, blurring the vision of the trees outside and Lorelai began to get lost in thought.

Suddenly her car began to jerk forward; Lorelai quickly turned her attention back on the street, or rather, the dirt. The car had drifted off the road and down into a ditch. Before she even had a chance to react, the car had collided with a tree…

**--- **

Okay, so, what did you think? Good? Bad? Okay_ish_? Please review and let me know. Suggestions are appreciated!


	2. A Worried Call

A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews! I know most of you hate me for killing of the innocent Paul Anka, but hopefully you'll forgive me when the fluffiness starts. Also, I should have explained the story's name in the first chapter...

**Murphy's law**: Whatever can go wrong, _will_ go wrong.

I just thought it went with this fic, sorry if it's confusing. Anyways, thanks again and enjoy the chapter!

**Chapter 2: A worried call...**

Luke was in the middle of taking one of the town's damn tourists orders when his phone rang. Scribbling down the rest of the order, he tucked the pen behind his ear and grabbed the phone before it could ring again. "Luke's."

"_Luke?_" A worried voice demanded from the other line.

Luke ripped out the sheet and handed the order to Caesar. "Rory?" He asked, placing the voice after a moment. He was surprised to hear from her - Rory hadn't really spoken to him since the breakup with Lorelai, months ago. "Is something wrong?"

"_No, well, yes, maybe, I don't know… I think so… uh, my mom called- you haven't seen her today, have you?" _Rory asked; without waiting for an answered she continued rambling,. "_I really, really need to talk to her. I think something's wrong and I don't know what to do._"

Luke didn't remember Rory ever being worked up like this. "Rory, you need to calm down. Okay?" He said, moving towards the side of the diner, ignoring the people trying to flag him down. "Now, what's the matter?"

"_I don't know,"_ the young woman admitted, sounding completely panicked._ "Mom left a couple messages on my phone and I didn't get them until lunch- she sounded terrible. She didn't tell me what, but _something_ happened. I tried calling her, but she didn't answer her home or cell phone. Michel said she didn't even come into work today, so I called Weston's and Al's Pancake World- she didn't stop by for breakfast. Sookie has no idea where she is. This isn't like mom. I don't-_"

Luke could barely understand a word Rory had said; she seemed to be talking faster then usual. "Rory, calm down," Luke said gently, trying to process everything he managed to catch. Even with the little bit he heard, he could feel himself starting to worry. "I'm sure-"

"_Luke,_" Rory interrupted, out of breath. "_I'm sorry for calling you; I didn't know if it'd be okay, it's just… I don't know where else she would be… she didn't stop in for coffee or a doughnut?_"

"No," Luke replied slowly, trying to calm himself down as he felt himself beginning to lose it. "She hasn't been in here today- or in months, in fact."

There was a pause. "_I don't know what else to do, Luke, I mean, I've called everyone, and no one's seen her!_" Rory said. "_I don't know where she would go. If she is at home she's not answering the phone and that means it's something bad. I-_"

"Rory-"

"_-don't know what else to do. Should I call the police? She really-_"

"_Rory_-"

"_-sounded horrible on the phone. Whatever happened can't be good; mom doesn't act like this over nothing. Maybe I should head home and-_"

"Rory!" Luke resorted to shouting.

"_… What?_"

"I'll go check on her," he said, trying to soothe her. "I'm sure she's fine, but I'll drive over to your house and check things out, okay?" He knew something had to be wrong - Rory was right, Lorelai didn't act that way - and this gave him a good excuse to go and find out for sure. Why would Lorelai tell Rory to call her back if she wasn't going to answer the phone?

"_You will?_" Rory asked, relieved. "_Thank you, Luke. Thank you so much. Call me the second you find anything out, okay? Even if it sounds like nothing, call me. I'm going to head home in a few minutes and-_"

"No, no, no, you have classes," Luke cut in, knowing Lorelai wouldn't like Rory missing school unless it was something serious. "I'll let you know if there's anything to worry about. You just take care of yourself, okay? Everything's going to be fine, I promise. And I'll have my cell on me so if you find out anything, give me a call."

"_Okay,_" Rory agreed reluctantly, "_But call me! Even if-_"

"Good bye, Rory."

----

Lorelai opened her eyes as several raindrops landed on the side of her face. She slowly lifted her head slowly off of the airbag; feeling a sticky substance on her forehead, she touched it and realized after a second it was blood. She tried to focus on her surroundings.

Looking out of the broken windshield, she found part of the tree inside her car, one branch mere inches away from her face. It seemed to be floating at first before she realized it was just her blurred vision.

She slowly began moving her various body parts, checking to see if she had broken anything in the crash. As she moved her shoulder, pain shot through it. She couldn't help the cry that escaped her lips. She knew she shouldn't be moving- she didn't know how bad of a head injury she had received, but she didn't care. Lorelai managed to open the car's door, stumbling onto the cold, wet ground; she felt tears swarm into her eyes once again. Even though the sharp pain in her shoulder seemed permanent, she tried to will it away.

She didn't know how long she had been unconscious; the Jeep's clock was broken and the sun was covered with the stormy rain clouds so she couldn't estimate a time.

Luke had always said she should buy a watch, she thought idly.

Rain poured on top of her like a broken pipe; in seconds she was completely soaked. Leaning her head against the tires of her car, she squeezed her eyes shut.

This entire day, so far, had been probably one of the worst days in her life. Finding Paul Anka dead had ripped out a piece of her. She knew logically he was only a dog, but since her break-up with Luke, and with her getting to see her daughter so rarely, Paul Anka had seemed to become a full family member. He was someone who was always happy to see her and more than willing to sit with her when she needed someone.

She glanced around her, the fact that she was completely soaked finally sinking through.

What the hell had she been thinking, driving to Yale? Now she was alone with a totaled car, in the rain, with no idea where she was. She was all alone.

A minute later, Lorelai buried her face into her hands and began to cry.

----

Luke Danes pulled his car to a stop under the large tree; he quickly noted Lorelai's car was nowhere in sight. He hesitated. What would he say to Lorelai if she was home? Simply that Rory was concerned and sent him to see if everything was okay? Letting out a long breath, he hurried up her steps and knocked on the door. When no one answered, he tried the doorknob and wasn't really surprised to find it unlocked. Some things never changed.

"Lorelai?" He called out, entering the house cautiously. He tried to shake off some of the rain, but it was useless- he was completely soaked. "Lorelai are you home?" He felt awkward, standing inside their would-have-been house when she wasn't even home. "Um, your door was unlocked, so… I just… came in."

Still not receiving a response, he shut the door and began to look around.

He had no idea what he was looking for. A note explaining her whereabouts? Some clue as to why she had been to upset earlier?

A constant beeping brought him upstairs. It was Lorelai's alarm clock. He turned it off and checked the time. It was set to go off at 7:30, which meant Lorelai had been dressed, fed, and gone by then. Very un-Lorelai-like.

Heading back downstairs, he passed the open door to the unused bathroom. He automatically started to close it but caught sight of Paul Anka next to the toilet. Instantly he understood why Lorelai was upset. Walking towards the dead animal, he even began to feel a little loss. Not that he would ever admit it, he didn't want people to think of him as an animal person, but the mutt had kind of grown on him.

Grabbing his cell phone out of his jacket pocket, he quickly dialed Rory's number- she answered on the first ring. "Rory, hey, it's Luke."

She must have sensed something bad, because she immediately began to attack him with questions. "_Is everything okay? Did you find mom? Is she okay? What happened?_"

"Um, no, I didn't find your mom…" Luke started, scratching the back of his head as he tried to think of a way to explain. "I don't know where she is, but, I do think I know what's bothering her."

"_What's going on, Luke?_" Rory asked with a serious tone. "_Is everything okay? Did someone get_-"

"Paul Anka is dead." Luke said bluntly. He knew it sounded cold, but he didn't know how else to break it to her. He knew the dog meant a lot to Rory, but even more so to Lorelai. Paul Anka meant the world to her; he could only imagine what Lorelai must have felt when she discovered him dead.

"_Oh my God…_" Rory whispered. "_How?_"

"I don't know," he replied. "He's just on the bathroom floor… Look, I'm really sorry. I think your mom must have called you after she found him. Maybe when you didn't pick up, she went for a ride or something. She's probably on her way to Yale as we speak."

"_Her car's gone?_" Rory asked.

"Yes."

"_But… it's pouring outside!_" The young girl exclaimed. Though she was heartbroken about the loss of the family pet, she was more concerned about her mother. "_She's not okay to drive at a time like this!_"

"I know," said Luke. That's what was really worrying him. He remembered the time Lorelai had won a couple goldfish at a Stars Hollow carnival; she had lost both of them three days later and was devastated for the next week. Who knew what the death of her beloved dog would do?

"_You'd think she would have called me again or at least answer my calls. Do you think something's happened?_"

"I don't know Rory," Luke replied, heading towards the door he was about to leave when his something caught his eyes – Lorelai's jacket. "Damn."

"_What? What's wrong?_" Rory asked. "_Luke?_"

"She didn't take her jacket… she…" Luke nervously rubbed the back of his neck again. "It's freezing outside and she didn't even take her jacket with her!" He felt as though he was somewhat to blame. If only he had tried to make amends with Lorelai, maybe she would have come to him and not out on the wet roads.

"_Luke, what are we supposed to do?_"

Luke snapped out of his thoughts and tried to think of a plan. "I'm going to head towards Yale; if she did decide to go somewhere it'd probably be to see you. And, maybe if she did, she had the sense to pull over to the side of the once the rain got bad."

"_Yeah, maybe, expect she's probably not thinking clearly._" Rory said. "_But even if she was on the road, why wouldn't she call me back? She has to know how worried I am about her._"

"I don't know. Why don't you start calling people and see if you can find out anything?" Luke suggested. "Maybe you should check with the police, highway patrol, whatever. Find out if there have been any accidents or if they pulled someone over. If she's not thinking clearly, she's probably not driving right."

The last thought scared him. Lorelai wasn't the best driver to begin with- if she had a song on the radio she loved or if she was upset, there was no way he'd ever step into a car with her.

"_Yeah, thanks Luke,_" Rory said. "_…_ _You don't think she got into an accident, do you?_"

"I don't know, probably not, your mom's too stubborn for that," he said, exiting the house and opening the door to his truck. "I'll call you back once I find something out, and you call me too, all right?"

"_Thank you for doing this, Luke…_" She was quiet for a moment."_I know I probably shouldn't have called you under the circumstances, but… thanks_." She hung up.

Luke slowly closed his phone. After a moment, he started the engine and pulled out of the Gilmore girls driveway…

----

Thanks Morgann for editing this chapter for me!

Please review!


	3. Keeping Family In The Loop

A/N: Wow, once again thank you all so much for your wonderful reviews! I'm so happy you're all enjoying it. Well, I actually have this whole story written, it's just the matter of having my sister edit my chapters. Hopefully I'll be able to update every other day or so, but my sister, unlike me, does have a life. ;)

**Chapter 3: Keeping family in the loop…**

A cold wet day was Emily Gilmore's favorite time to plan her next DAR function. With the weather cool and the cloudy skies, it just made for a perfect day.

She was making notes about the various locations where the function could be held when her telephone rang. She decided to ignore it and let the newest maid, Keri, answer it. She went on with her business as usual until the young maid handed her the phone and walked away without a word.

_That's it_, she thought. _She's fired_.

Emily cleared her throat as she brought the phone to her ears. "Hello?"

"_Grandma?_"

"Rory?" Emily asked, rising to her feet as a smile spread across her face. It wasn't very often she received a phone call from her granddaughter. "Rory, it's so nice to hear from you. I missed you at Friday night dinner last week- _someone_ needs to control your mother. I do hope you won't be too busy to join us tomorrow night. Your grandfather has been wanting to talk to you about that class-"

"_Grandma!_" Rory finally cut in. "_Just stop it! Something's happened!_"

Emily was taken back. Rory rarely- if ever- interrupted her. "Rory, it's rude to inter-" The words registered. "What happened? Are you okay? Is everyone all right? You're not hurt, are you?"

"_I'm fine, Grandma._" Rory assured. "_It's not me that I'm calling about. I thought you should know that mom's kind of… well, missing._"

Emily paused. "What do you mean she's 'kind of' missing? Either she is missing or she's not. What's going on? What happened?"

"_Paul Anka died,_" her granddaughter said simply.

"Who?" Emily asked. She didn't remember Lorelai or Rory ever mentioning someone by that name. Was Lorelai dating someone new? She hadn't said anything but since when has her daughter told her anything?

"_Paul Anka,"_ Rory repeated slowly. "_Mom's dog._"

"Oh," she said, losing interest. "A mutt."

"_Grandma, mom's really attached to that dog- we both are. Mom called while I was in class and I didn't listen to her messages until lunch. I tried calling her but she didn't answer. I called her at work- everywhere that she may have gone. Nobody's seen her today._" She hesitated. "_I'm really worried._"

Emily sat down, taking in the news. "She probably just wants to be left along. Did you try calling your house?" Although she may not have understood her daughter's affections for a animal, she did know how much she loved him.

"_No, she's not home. Luke said her car was gone._"

"Luke?" She asked in surprise.

"_Yes, I called him."_ Her tone got a bit defensive. "_He went over to our house and she wasn't home. He's the one who found Paul Anka's body._"

Emily blinked. "That dead animal is still in your house?" She demanded. "You should really call-"

"_Grandma, that's not the point._" Rory sighed. "_The point is that mom's missing and she's probably not thinking straight. It's pouring outside and she's god knows where and not answering her phone. I just thought you should know. I have to go; I'm calling the police to see if they know anything. Luke's on the road trying to find her as we speak- I'll keep you informed, okay?_"

"Yes," Emily said slowly, still digesting the shocking news. "Thank you for calling me." She hung up the phone and sat there in shock. There had to be something she could do- anything. Her only daughter was missing. What if something happened to her? What if she was lying in some hospital, hurt?"

"_Richard_!"

----

The cold finally hit her.

She hadn't noticed it until now. How long had she sat out in the rain? She tried to think what time she had left home, but she couldn't remember.

As she wrapped her arms around her body in an attempt to warm herself, she thought about trying to find her cell phone in the mess of tree, twisted metal and glass, but she couldn't convince herself to move. The thick forest surrounding her would probably block any cell service anyway.

Lorelai wished her daughter were here, or anyone for that matter. Rubbing her hands up and down her arms, she surprised herself when she realized that out of everyone she knew who could be here to comfort her, she'd want Luke. She wasn't sure why, maybe it was because he had a way with her. Not just because he could make any bad situation feel like nothing with only a few comforting words, but he truly understood what Paul Anka meant to her. Not even Rory understood that.

Thinking of Luke brought back memories she wished she no longer had. At least then it wouldn't hurt so much now that he was gone. How could she have been such an idiot? Breaking off their relationship when she was so in love with him? How could she have thrown all that happiness away? So what if he wasn't there twenty-four/seven- he was trying to build a relationship with his daughter. At least then it was better to have him part of the time, unlike now when she had no one.

Why had she suddenly started thinking of Luke? She couldn't remember.

A sob escaped her. She was at the point where she couldn't tell the difference between her tears and the raindrops anymore. She felt herself shiver. She needed to get some help. There was no way her car would start and she was definitely too far from any civilization to walk. She needed a ride. Why hasn't she grabbed her purse when she left? Why hadn't she been thinking about what she was going?

Shivering, she tried to stand, but an overwhelming dizziness over came her and she sank back onto the ground. Was her head injury worse then she realized? Slouching further down, she looked up at the dark clouds, watching the cold raindrops fall and spatter on top of her. That's when a thought popped into her head. Her life was like a raindrop, beautiful and free, until she neared the ground. Then she would splash and start her journey all over again. But what made her fall to the ground? Why couldn't she just be in the clouds forever, where it was safe? Why couldn't her life be perfect like the rest of those raindrops who never had to fall?

Closing her eyes, she let out a long sigh. Maybe she would never know…

----

"No accidents? You're sure about this? … Yeah, I'm looking for my mother, Lorelai Gilmore. She's missing and I just thought… no, I don't want to file a missing persons report… no, she's only been missing for five or six hours… thank you for you time. Bye."

Rory hadn't been having any luck so far. There hadn't been any accidents reported, unless her mom hadn't been driving towards Yale, in which case she could be anywhere and the police couldn't help her. Rory had tried asking about people who were arrested on that road, or who had been given a speeding ticket, or even a warning that morning, but the young police officer she'd been talking to wouldn't tell her.

Rory hung up and sighed. What she needed was someone on the inside or at least someone who could get on the inside…

Paris.

Rory quickly dialed her roommate's number and Paris, as though she had nothing better to do, immediately answered. "Hey, Paris, it's Rory… I need your help."

----

The roads were slick as Luke got back onto the highway.

He didn't know where else to look. He had already driven to Yale and hadn't seen any signs of Lorelai anywhere, but he wasn't going to give up and go home. He had to find her.

She probably stopped somewhere once the rain got bad, but where? Where would she have gone? Where would she go if she were in need of comfort? As much had he didn't want to admit it, there was a good possibility that Lorelai had gone to Christopher's. Although Luke didn't think they have talked since the divorce, he had been known to be wrong before.

Maybe he should call Christopher to see if she was there. If she was, he could let Rory know there wasn't anything to worry about. And if she wasn't… then what would he do? Drive around aimlessly looking for her? Of course he would do it, but he preferred to consider it his last option.

He reluctantly decided to drive to Christopher's apartment instead of calling. If Lorelai _had _started towards her ex-husband's house, maybe he would find her somewhere parked along the way. Or at least that was what he hoped. He couldn't imagine where else she could be, unless she hadn't been driving anywhere in particular. For all they knew, she could have jumped into her jeep and just followed the road.

Luke took the next exit for Chris's place – thankfully he knew where he was going. After all, he had stormed over to the man's place months ago and punched him in the nose. The memory brought a slight smile to his face. Finding the building wouldn't be a problem. But talking to Christopher without punching him in the nose again was an entirely different story…

----

Rory never thought she would be so relieved to hear from Paris.

She had called the young woman about a half hour ago and explained the situation about her mother, and how she couldn't make the police officer tell her if anyone had received a ticket on the way to Yale… would she try? Paris had quickly agreed to take on the challenge. And take it on she did; she had managed to get the officer to tell her about all police activity in the area for the entire morning. After thanking Paris profusely, though they hadn't found anything that would help their search, Rory called Luke to fill him in.

After that she wasn't sure what she ought to do next. Should she drive around and hopefully find her mom on the road, or stay at Yale, feeling completely useless, just in case she showed up? Since she was already in her car, she decided to join Luke for the search. She was about to drive off when her phone rang; quickly turning off the car, she answered it.

"Mom?" She prayed her mom finally realized that she had people really worried about her – Rory had been the last one to hear from her when she left the messages on her voicemail that morning.

"_No, Rory, it's your grandmother._" Emily said, her voice masking any amount of concern she may have been feeling. "_I take it your mother hasn't called yet._"

Rory bit her bottom lip. "No," she answered truthfully. "She hasn't." Though Rory didn't understand why that was, Lorelai had been the one to call her in the first place. Maybe her mom hadn't taken her cell phone when she left. She should have had Luke check. "I'm really worried about her."

"_There's probably no need to be, she's probably just off doing the things she normally does, not caring that she has people worried._"

Rory knew her grandma didn't believe that, but she didn't have the patience to deal with her right now. "Mom's not thinking straight right now." She defended. "Paul Anka was almost like another kid to her. When she found him dead, it had to have hurt." Rory almost wished she hadn't called her grandmother, but if something happened to Lorelai and they weren't informed, she knew her grandparents would be very upset.

"_Has Luke found anything?_"

"No," Rory replied tersely. "Grandma, I told you I would call you if I found anything out. I promise."

Emily sighed. "_I know you did, Rory, I was just wondering if there was anything your grandfather or I could do to help, I don't like the idea of my daughter being alone at a time like this. I know how much she cared for that dog."_

"I don't know what you can do, Grandma." Rory said. "I'm at loss of what to do myself. I thought about driving around, but what if she comes here and I'm gone?"

"_I think you should stay there, just in case._" Emily said decisively. _"Richard and I will drive around and see if we can find her. Do you think there's a chance she's still in Stars Hallow?_"

"Nobody's seen her today, so I don't think so…" Rory said glumly. "Okay, well, I should get going, Luke may have found something."

"_Yes, well, I'll call you in an hour,_" her grandmother said before she hung up.

----

Do, de, dum, de do… please review?


	4. Chitchat With An Old Husband

A/N: Sorry for the long delay! My sister's already in the middle of editing the next chapter so hopefully I'll be able to update soon. Thank you all so much for the reviews! ... Enjoy!

**Chapter 4: Chitchat with an old husband…**

Lorelai sneezed.

She tried to brush away the raindrops from her face, but it was a pointless move. The rain continued to fall in sheets. With a sigh of defeat, Lorelai touched her forehead once more, feeling the fresh blood between her fingers. She wiped them across her jeans.

She had always loved rain (as long as it didn't interfere with her plans), but she was rapidly growing to hate the cold, wet weather.

She tried to think of something to distract her from her situation. Puppies… flowers… kids… Rory. As soon as the name of her daughter popped into her head, she realized that she was probably worried sick about her. Slapping herself mentally she wondered if anyone had gone to her house and found Paul Anka's body. At least then they would know that she didn't just skip town for no apparent reason.

She had to get up again. No one would find her all the way out here. Even she didn't even know where it was; she didn't even know how far away the closest town was. Would she have to walk? She dreaded the idea. Could she even stand? After the crash, she seemed to have lost all her energy. How long would it be until somebody found her? What if they never did?

Lorelai was in pain. She was hungry. She hadn't had any coffee all day. On top of the car crash and her dog dying, could things get any worse?

She needed to get up, get to her phone and call Rory. Let her know what happened and then go to bed forever. Sleep- that sounded good. But she couldn't sleep. She wouldn't allow herself to sleep. Sleep is not what she needed to do.

She tried once again to push herself up, and once again the dizziness threatened to take her back down. But she fought it and managed to stand; holding onto the car, she waited until the dizziness had passed before attempting to move. Still holding onto the side, she managed to pull herself into the car and onto the driver's seat. Knowing it was futile, she still tried to start the engine; it sputtered and died. Pain shot through her head and shoulder, but she pushed it away and tried to find her cell phone.

Spotting the pink phone stuck beneath a large branch, she pulled it free and immediately noticed the screen was cracked. She mentally groaned at the thought of buying a new one. At least it was still usable- except for the battery pack was missing. Leaning forward, she began to carefully sift through the glass in an attempt to find it. Finally, after what seemed like hours, she found it on the dashboard in working order.

Maybe something was going right after all…

----

Luke parked outside Christopher's apartment building. After a careful scrutiny down the street, he determined Lorelai's car wasn't here. He felt almost guilty at the flood of relief that washed over him- after all, didn't he just want to find her and make sure she was safe?

He was about to drive off when he realized that she might have broken down on the road and called Christopher to come pick her up.

He ran his fingers through his hair and replaced his baseball cap. With a sigh, he pushed open the door and slowly entered the building. On the way up in the elevator, he briefly recalled his last trip here. He had ended up punching Christopher.

The elevator doors opened, depositing him into the hall. Moments later, he was outside Christopher Hayden's door.

Part of him wanted to just face the man, while the part told him to leave. It wasn't that he was scared of Chris, he wasn't. He just didn't really want to see the man who helped destroy his engagement with the woman he loved.

With a sigh, he knocked on the door.

_Talk to the man, not punch him,_ he reminded himself.

The door opened. A startled look flashed across Chris's face as he instinctively took a step back. "What the hell do you want?"

"Is Lorelai here?" he demanded.

That obviously wasn't what Christopher expected. "Lor?"

"Yeah."

"No, why?" His eyes widened. "Has something happened to her? Is she okay?"

"Lorelai's missing." Luke crossed his arms. "Rory called me this morning to tell me," he said, feeling the need to add that the missing woman's daughter was the one to inform him.

"Missing?" Christopher repeated slowly. "Lor's missing?" Luke's last words sunk in and he winced slightly. "How long?" he asked after a few long moments.

"Sometime this morning."

"What happened?"

"Paul Anka died."

"Oh, God." He sighed and ran his fingers through his short hair. "Lor must be crushed."

"You haven't talked to her today?" Luke confirmed.

Christopher's face tightened. "No," he snapped. "Not that it's any of your business, but I haven't talked to Lorelai since our divorce." He mussed his hair up again and gave him a forced smile. "Thanks for letting me know. I'll call you when we find her."

Luke stared at him. "What?"

"You've done your job. Lorelai's not your responsibility anymore."

"Are you telling me to go home?" The diner owner asked incredulously.

"Yes."

Luke gave an incredulous chuckle, shook his head, and sent Christopher sprawling onto the floor. With a nod of satisfaction, he walked back to the elevator and pressed the button to close the doors.

----

Christopher scrambled onto his feet once the elevator started moving down. After kicking his door shut, he carefully touched his now swelling jaw. Damn, that man had some punch. He ruefully admitted he had deserved that. He would have done the same thing if he were in Luke's shoes.

He automatically dialed her number though he knew it was probably a pointless act. She didn't answer.

As disappointed as he was that Lorelai's and his marriage didn't work out, he still loved her; he'd always be there for her if she ever needed him. And now was a time when she needed someone.

Packing up a few of his daughter's belongings, he quickly dropped Gigi off at his parent's house, before he headed towards Stars Hallow…

----

After staring at her cell phone for several minutes, Lorelai started to dial her daughter's number before abruptly hanging up.

She couldn't do it. She couldn't. She couldn't tell Rory what happened to Paul Anka. She knew she wouldn't be able to utter those horrifying words… but she had to. That was one of the first steps, wasn't it? She needed to come to terms of what happened, right? What better way then this?

Clearing her throat, she quickly dialed Rory's cell phone number before she had a chance to talk herself out of it again. She knew she had to suck it up and be the mom, but as the phone rang, she secretly hoped her daughter wouldn't pick up.

"_Mom?!_"

Damn caller ID's.

"_Where the hell are you? We've been worried sick! You just called and then you just… disappeared! Where are you?_" The young girl paused. "_…_ _Mom, are you all right? Are you hurt?_"

Lorelai instantly felt a stab of guilt for making her daughter worry. She tried to say something, anything to reassure Rory; she couldn't even give a grunt of acknowledgement.

"_Mom?_" Rory's concerned voice asked. "_Are you there? … Mom?!_"

Lorelai swallowed again. She tried again to say something and this time a weak "Rory…" came out.

"_Mom!_" Rory exclaimed, relieved. "_It's so good to hear your voice. I've been so worried, we all have. I-_" She paused after her phone had beeped. "_Oh, shoot! Mom, my phone's dying- where are you? I've got a pen around here, somewhere, let me write it down._"

Lorelai could hear the sound of paper rustling. "Rory-" she started.

"_Found it!_" Her daughter shouted triumphantly. "_Okay, where are you? This rain is horrible; I hope you pulled over- you did pull over, right?_"

"I uh, I don't know where…" Lorelai sniffed and tried to focus. "I'm not sure where I am- I just drove. There's trees everywhere… um, and my car- I crashed into a tree."

"_Oh my God!_" Rory was quiet for a second before rapidly demanding, "_Are you okay? Are you-_"

Suddenly the line went dead, and all Lorelai was left with was the sound of the dial tone…

----

I know most of you are going to hate me for bringing Christopher into the story. As much as I hate him I needed to add him, if only so Luke can punch him again...

Please review!


	5. Confirmation

A/N: Once again, sorry it took me so long to update! I was gone for the weekend and had an adventure. Has anyone been stuck inside an elevator before? Let me tell you, it's not all that it's cracked up to be. My friends and I were staying at a hotel and got trapped in their elevator for over fifteen minutes! It seemed like a lifetime! Okay, I'm done ranting now…

Previously on Murphy's Law…

_"I uh, I don't know where…" The mom sniffled. "I'm not sure where I am, I just drove, there's trees everywhere… um, and my car- I crashed into a tree." _

_"Oh my God!" Rory muttered. "Are you okay? Are you-" _

_Suddenly the line went dead, and all Lorelai was left with was the sound of the dial tone…_

**Chapter 5: Confirmation **

Rory's cell phone gave one last warning beep before turning off, dead. "No!" she cried, frantically trying to redial her mother's number; the phone refused to turn on. With another cry of frustration, she threw it on the passenger's seat. How could that stupid little piece of plastic die on her at a time like this? Why hadn't she, Lorelai Leigh Gilmore, the girl who always remembered everything, bothered to check her phone's battery before departing for class earlier?

She rummaged through her purse, emptying all the change onto her lap and stuffing it into her pocket. Leaving the car, she began searching for a pay phone, but as she had never used a payphone on campus before, she had no idea where they were located.

Questions flooded her mind. Why had her mother waited so long to call? She said she had crashed into a tree – how did that happen? Had her mother been unconscious this whole time? She hadn't sounded well- was that just because of Paul Anka or she was seriously hurt? Rory managed to hold back tears but couldn't make the lump in her throat go away. This whole time she'd thought her mom was purposely ignoring everyone- not that she blamed her- but now she didn't know.

Grabbing the first person she bumped into, she tried to catch her breath as she gasped, "Where's… the nearest… payphone?"

The young freshman, startled, pointed towards a building. "Over there," he muttered, backing away.

"Thank you!" Rory shouted before running off…

----

Luke stood outside the small gas station, waiting impatiently for his truck to fill. Glancing at his watch, he winced as he saw the numbers. It was little after six o'clock, meaning it would get darker soon. After a look at the clouds, he guessed it wouldn't stop raining any time soon. He just hoped Lorelai was safe and dry…

Replacing the pump back, he closed his tank and hurried into the mini mart. He hadn't eaten since breakfast, but as much as he hated wasting his time for food, he _really _needed some water and to use the restroom.

As he was checking out, he absentmindedly grabbed some of Lorelai's favorite candy, twizzlers, just in case she was hungry when found.

Back into his truck, Luke headed out once again. He didn't get far down the road when his cellular phone began to ring. But it wasn't just any ring- it was _the_ ring. Lorelai's ringtone. Wind beneath my wings. He didn't really care for the song- actually he hated it, but it always seemed to bring a smile to his face when he heard it. After they broke up, he hadn't bothered changing it because first of all, he didn't want to mess with the gadget- who knew what would happen? And the second reason, because he still wasn't ready to let her go. And it wasn't like he thought she'd ever call again…

He grabbed the phone and stared at the small screen. He couldn't believe it; after hours of searching, she was finally calling _him_? He quickly answered it. "L-Lorelai?" He stammered. Clearing his throat, he tried again. "Lorelai, is that you?"

There was a brief pause before a sobbing woman's reply came. "_I'm sorry,_" Lorelai cried. "_I'm so, so sorry. I know- I shouldn't have called you, but uh… Rory's phone just died and Sookie didn't pick up. I'm so, so sorry, Luke. I just… I need…-_"

"Lorelai," Luke said, managing to keep his voice calm. "It's okay." He had never felt so relieved to hear someone's voice. He could feel himself smiling for sheer joy that she was okay, until it hit him that maybe she wasn't. He could tell she was crying- it wasn't as bad as he'd heard before, but it definitely not over nothing.

"_I uh…_" she paused. "_My car crashed into uh, a uh, tree…_"

"What?!" He heard himself shout. Panic raced through his veins and he felt himself grow cold all over. "Are you okay? Are you all right?"

After a long moment, Lorelai slowly answered, "_Yeah, I uh, I think I'm okay…_"

What was that supposed to mean? Luke swallowed nervously as he swerved to avoid a fallen tree branch on the road. "Okay," he said carefully. "Where are you?"

-

Lorelai looked around at her surroundings; she managed to stop crying, but she knew it was only a matter of time until she started again. "I don't know," she managed to squeak. "I don't know where I am, I don't know… I…" She leaned her head against the seat of her car, squeezing her eyes shut, willing the tears away. "Luke, I don't know where I am."

"_Okay,_" Luke said slowly. "_Where did you get on the highway?_"

Lorelai nodded, not really registering that Luke couldn't see her. "Yeah, I did. I was uh, um, I was going to see Rory because… well, because-"

"_Paul Anka died._" Luke supplied so she wouldn't have to. "_Yeah,_ _I know- I was at your house, I found him. Lorelai, I am so sorry._"

"Thanks," she said weakly, wiping away fallen tears.

"_Okay, you didn't go to Yale; I already checked the roads on the way there. What exit did you take?_"

Luke was looking for her? Now? She felt even guiltier and wondered how Rory talked him into it. "I don't know," she responded a moment later. "I uh, I passed the exit to Yale and kept driving. Um, a couple minutes later I got off the highway… I don't know what exit it was, only that it had a construction crew working on the sidelines- they're probably gone by now though…"

Why didn't she pay any attention to where she was going? Because of her stupid idea to just drive she now had other people suffering, suffering because of her idiocy.

"_Lorelai?_" Luke's voice asked, breaking her train of thought. "_Lorelai?_"

"Sorry," she apologized. "Um, what did you say?"

"_What exit did you take?_"

"Um, you know what, I'm not really sure… uh, I was just driving- I wasn't really, um, paying attention." She knew that her admission could possibly provoke a Luke rant, but right then she didn't care. She just wanted to go home, go to bed, curl up and sleep forever. "I'm sorry."

Luke sighed. "_All right, well, do you know how long you were driving after you passed the exit for Yale?_"

Lorelai thought a moment. "No," she said; she was on the edge of breaking down again. "I don't know… I'm sorry."

"_It's okay,_" Luke assured. "_We'll figure this out. Now, there isn't by any chance a sign close by?_"

Lorelai paused. She hadn't remembered seeing one, but on the other hand she hadn't been looking for one. "I don't know," she said slowly, reaching for the door handle. She stepped out of her jeep and into the cold and wet night. "I'm checking now." As soon as her feet touched the ground, however, she felt them fall out from under her. Letting out a soft cry, she found herself face down on the flooded street.

"_Lorelai?!_" Luke shouted over the phone, obviously having heard her cry. "_What happened? Are you okay?_ _Lorelai! Please, talk to me!_"

It took her a moment to realize what happened. As she lifted up her head, she gave another groan. Pushing herself onto her elbows, she winced as her scraped skin touched the hard ground. Rolling over onto her back, she breathed a sigh of relief as the pain left her elbows and knees, but quickly cursed as it returned in her shoulder. She couldn't win any way.

Slowly and steadily, she managed to sit up; at first she thought she was hearing a voice in her head, calling her name before quickly realizing it was Luke on the phone. Immediately feeling bad for having him worry even more, she reached for her pink phone that had rolled under the car and was now covered in gooey mud.

At least it was working.

"L-Luke?" Her voice came out shakier then she thought it would be.

"_Lorelai? Thank God!_" Luke said, relief quickly washed over his voice. "_You had me worried, what happened? What's wrong? Are you okay?_"

"Yeah, um, I sorta…" Lorelai wrapped her arms around her body, trying to warm herself as the cold suddenly sunk back into her skin. "Yeah, I'm all right. It was nothing."

He exhaled sharply, obviously not convinced. She could tell he was worried about her. "_Okay… so you didn't see any signs?_"

Lorelai glanced back and forth before giving up with a sigh. "No, I um, I don't see any signs." Biting her lip she added, "I could walk a little and-"

"_No, no, no,_" Luke said quickly, obviously not wanting whatever happened last time to happen again. "_No, just stay where you are, its okay. I'll figure it out somehow._" He sighed. "_Okay, so-_"

"I'm surrounded by trees," she interrupted. "There is a limb in my windshield and I'm on an old road… no one's passed by the whole time I've been on here." She sniffed. "I'm alone here. I can't even remember how close the nearest town is. I don't know what to do, Luke.. What do I do?" She was on the verge of tears again. She was getting tired of crying…

"_Its okay, Lorelai, it's going to be all right. You need to relax- I'm going to find you, okay?_" Luke hesitated before adding, "_I promise._"

Lorelai nodded. Everything in her believed him. "Thank you, Luke," she whispered.

----

Rory inserted the coins into the phone and waited to hear a dial tone before she dialed her mom's cell phone. She received a busy signal and from there was directed to her voicemail. "Hey, mom, it's me, Rory. I need to know you're all right, that you're okay. Can you call me back? I'm worried." She hesitated, mentally willing her mother to answer. "Call me," she said finally. "Please."

After waiting a minute, she dropped a few more quarters into the machine. Her grandmother answered with a sharp, "_Hello?_"

"Grandma? Where are you?"

"_Rory?_" Emily turned to her husband. "_Richard, it's Rory._"

"_Has she found out anything new?_" Rory heard her grandfather ask. "_Is Lorelai all right? Has she been hurt?_"

"_Rory, your Grandfather-_"

"I heard him," Rory interrupted. "I don't know, but mom called me-"

"_She called you?_" Emily sounded relieved. "_She called Rory, Richard. Rory, I'm putting you on speaker so we both can hear you. Now, what did your mother tell you? Is she all right?_"

"She didn't really say," Rory admitted. "She said she crashed into a car, but that's about all I got- my phone died."

"_She didn't say if she was hurt?_" Richard asked.

"No, I don't think so- I'm not sure. Everything happened so fast; one minute I was talking to her, and the next moment we were disconnected. I tried calling her from a payphone, but I got her voicemail. I guess she's on the phone with someone else-"

"_Someone else?_" Emily questioned. "_Who? She hasn't called us._"

"I don't know," Rory began carefully, hearing the slight note of hurt in her grandmother's voice. "I… maybe the police. I'm hoping it's someone who'll tell her to call Luke. He's already out on the road and could probably find her faster then any of us could. I just don't know if she actually would or not."

"_All right,_" her grandmother said after a moment. This time, she could tell her grandmother was definitely upset at the idea that her daughter would call her ex-fiance before her own parents. "_You probably have other things to do; we won't keep you any longer. Let us know when you find anything else out._" With that, Emily hung up, leaving a teary-eyed Rory alone once again…

----

Christopher shoved his hands into his pockets shyly as he stepped out of his car. Ignoring the umbrella in the backseat, he shut the door with his foot and headed towards the main building. Moments later, he pushed through the heavy wooden doors, only to immediately bump into none other than his daughter.

"Rory!"

"Dad!" She exclaimed, surprised. "Wha- what are you doing here?"

"Um," he glanced around the large room. "I heard about your mother. I drove here to see if she'd come to see you."

"No, she hasn't." Rory stared at her father with a quizzical glance. "Who told you mom was missing? Grandma?"

"No," Christopher said. "Luke came by. Since my own daughter hadn't called me, he decided to see if she was at my place."

Rory ignored her dad's shot about her not calling and focused on the rest. "Why would he do that?" She demanded, her face suddenly filling with anger. "What has mom missing got to do with you? Why are you suddenly interested in her life again?"

"Hey, take it easy, Rory," her dad said, holding his hands up, trying to placate her. "I just came by to see if I could help."

"Well, you can't," Rory snapped. "We don't need your help, _we're_ doing fine- Luke, my grandparents and me."

"Rory," Chris pleaded. "I just want to help."

Rory pursed her lips at her father. "You know what you can do for me, dad? What you can do is, go home and don't come back into mom's life ever again. Every single time you come, you ruin something. Intentional or not, you still ruin everything. I'm sick and tired of seeing my mother this way. She's not the person who pulls away from people when something like this happens, but the last two breakups have been really hard on her. What she needs is for you to be gone from ours lives, for good. And if that means me giving up the father I never really had, I'm okay with it."

Christopher stood there a moment, taking everything in at once. There was a long pause before he finally nodded. "Okay," he managed to get out as he tried to hide the pain he felt. "I'll leave you two alone- if that's what you really want."

Rory nodded. "It is," she said as firmly as she could.

Christopher took in a deep breath. "So, I guess this is goodbye for good then, huh?"

Rory nodded again. "Yeah, I guess it is."

"All right then." Her father cleared his throat. "I wish the best for you and your mom. I hope everything turns out okay and um… have a good life." With that, he spun on his heels and headed for the doors.

Rory watched him leave. As the doors closed behind him, she was filled with a sudden loss. Despite her father's shortcomings and his absence as she grew up, he was still her father. After her parents failed marriage, she doubted there would be any more relationships between the two, but he needed to be gone from her mother's life. It was time for him to be gone, for good, and she had no doubt in her mind that he would…

----

"Lorelai?" Luke asked gently as he approached a several construction signs on the side of the highway. He suddenly remembered her mentioning something about it. "_Lorelai_?"

"_Yeah, sorry, I'm here._" Her quiet voice shivered.

Luke paused at the shiver. "Are you outside?" he asked, as he slowed his truck down so he wouldn't pass the scene before he had a chance to ask her about it. "Please tell me you're not outside in this freezing rain."

There was no answer.

"Lorelai, it's raining cats and dogs out there!" He scowled, not liking the thought of her outside in this weather. "Okay, um, you said you passed a construction sight, right? And you got off at the next exit, correct?"

"_Yeah, I think._" Lorelai said. "_I'm um, not one hundred percent sure… I think it was the next exit._"

"Good, good," Luke muttered, more to himself then to Lorelai. "Okay, I took the exit, what did you do after that?"

"_Um, I uh, just… drove until I saw this old road and turned onto it._"

Luke rubbed the sudden pain in the back of his neck as he followed the main road. How many 'old roads' could there be? "Okay, Lorelai, can you be anymore specific? There's got to be about a billion roads I can turn onto."

"_I'm sorry,_" came her tearful response. "_I don't remember… I can't think…_"

Realizing that he'd been pushing her too hard, Luke sighed. "No, no, I'm sorry," he said. "I should have been… it doesn't matter." There was a long uncomfortable pause; apparently neither of them had anything to say. "I should probably call Rory," he finally said. "I told her I'd call her if I had any new information…"

"_Okay,_" Lorelai said simply before she hung up.

----

Lorelai held onto her cell phone a long minute before pushing it into the back pocket of her jeans. Glancing up at the sky once more, she realized how dark it was. How did she not realize it? It was like a big blanket was thrown on top of them, covering every crack of light.

Trying to get her mind off the fact that it was almost pitch black and that she was almost frozen, she thought about her parents. That always made her blood boil. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be helping her warm up this time. Not even when she thought about the time her mother had refused to let her to go to her best friend's birthday party when she was ten – Lorelai _always _got mad when she thought about that day.

Pulling her knees up to her chest, she began to rock back and forth, as if it comforted her instead of paining her. The throbbing in her shoulder had increased; it felt like a thousand needles stabbing her in a million different places. The pain brought tears back into her once semi dried eyes; wiping them away, she realized she was only smearing blood across her face, but no matter- the rain would wash it away soon enough.

Her mind began to wonder how cold it really was. If someone were to ask her, she probably would have answered below zero. Now, of course she knew it couldn't be that cold, or she wouldn't be alive, but she was starting to think of herself as a Popsicle, and not because everyone enjoyed them, but because of the simple fact that they were _cold_.

She sneezed; sending shivers down her back – she hated that feeling.

Glancing down the road as best as she could in the dark, she looked for any signs of lights, or anything for that matter, but only the darkness greeted her.

Leaning her head back against her car, she sighed. She shouldn't have called Luke – it had been a mistake. She knew he would come find her, she knew he wouldn't complain and she knew he would be worried about her. She had taken advantage of an old friendship, for which she felt horrible.

"How could I be so selfish?" She muttered, closing her eyes shut. She didn't even bother to put up a fight as the darkness over took her…

----

After receiving the call from Luke, filling her in on the whole situation, she had thanked him again for helping, making sure he knew that she couldn't have done it without him. Feeling some of the worry lift off her shoulders, she quickly called her grandparents and filled them in as well.

After that, Rory ran back to her car and quickly started it up. She let the heaters heat the small space before she stepped on the gas and drove away from Yale.

Her grandmother had told her to meet her at their house, where they would all, presuming that Luke found Lorelai, would go to the hospital to see them. Even if Lorelai wasn't injured, Emily wouldn't let her go home without a clean bill of health from a professional doctor.

So, there she was, on her way to her grandparent's house (after a quick stop at her apartment for her phone's charger), driving slowly, as warned by her grandfather, on the cold watery roads.

Rory swallowed guiltily as she recalled her conversation with her dad. Although she told him what he needed to know, she could have handled it a lot better then she did. He was her dad, after all, whether he was around for her or not was beside the point. He did have a right to know about the well being of his daughter's mother and his ex-wife.

Picking up her cell phone, she quickly punched in her dad's number. Once he answered, she quickly filled him in on the situation, letting him know that as far as Luke could tell, Lorelai wasn't critically injured, or at least that's what he gathered. Christopher had been relieved, and had thanked Rory for filling him in. And that was it- they both hung up without as much as a goodbye.

Feeling slightly better about the whole dad thing, she turned on the radio and tried to concentrate on the road…

----

Okay, there you go. I combined two chapters 'cause I felt so bad about the delay.

Thank you, Morgann, for editing my chapter! Love ya!

Please review!


	6. A Broken Down Lorelai

**Chapter 6: A broken down Lorelai… **

Luke took his foot of the gas when he realized how fast he was going; it wouldn't help the situation if he got into a car crash as well.

Car crash… it was finally beginning to hit him. Lorelai had been in a car crash. He'd known her for over eight years; she'd had many 'almost' car crashes, but never an actual car crash. His mind tried to wrap over the thought of a smashed taillight or broken side mirror, but all he could think about what a five-car pile up, bodies and blood everywhere.

Shaking his head he tried to erase the mental imagine.

Lorelai was fine. She'd called him. That meant something, didn't it? She was able to talk just fine. He heard her crying, but he hoped that was because of Paul Anka and not from the pain she was in. Not that he wanted her to be crying over the loss of her dog, but that would be better then in pain, right?

Luke straightened his baseball cap and cleared his throat. For the first time since his father had died, he found himself praying for the well being of a close friend and ex-fiancée. It wasn't that he actually believed in a higher being, he wasn't sure; he'd never taken the time to really think about it. But if there was such a person as God, he prayed that he would keep Lorelai safe until she could be found.

Luke jerked his car to a stop, turning his head to the right he felt as though God had answered his prayers. There, as if out of nowhere, he saw an old, abandoned looking road, surrounded by trees – exactly how Lorelai had described it. He could feel a tear slide down his unshaved cheek. Tears of relief? He sat, just staring at the road for a good minute before he quickly turned onto it, feeling for the first time that day that everything was going to be fine. He wasn't sure how he knew exactly, he just… felt it.

He drove ever so slowly down the wet road, scanning back and forth, making sure he didn't miss anything. He didn't know where to look – had she gone into the forest? Or had she slid off the road and hit a tree? He picked up his cell phone, about to call Lorelai again when he saw something that made him drop it.

It was dark, but he could see the outline of her jeep, wrapped around a tree. As his headlights shined on the scene, he saw scattered glass everywhere, and there, in the midst of all the commotion, sat/slouched Lorelai, against the front left tire.

As he pulled over to the side of the road, several feet away from the scene of the accident, he unbuckled his seatbelt.

His heart began to beat faster then ever as he jumped out of the vehicle. Running towards Lorelai's side; he immediately took in the sight of blood on her forehead. Her eyes were closed, her face was pale and she looked as if she was struggling for breath.

"Lorelai!" He shouted as he dropped to her side, shaking her shoulders which seemed ice cold against his once warm and dry hands. "Lorelai! Can you hear me? Come on, wake up!" He felt himself panic when she didn't open her eyes immediately. Was there a chance…? She couldn't be… reaching over he picked up her hand, trying to find a pulse. She groaned. "Lorelai?" Looking back up at her face he noticed her wince.

It took a moment before her eyelashes fluttered open. Her watery eyes made it impossible to see clearly, she jumped instinctively as someone touched her hand. Pulling it away she and awkwardly wrapped it around herself. Blinking the tears back she managed to clear up her vision. "L-Luke?" She stuttered, as if not sure he was actually there or if she was having hallucinations from her head injury.

Luke let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding; the smallest smile crept over his face.

"I'm here, Lorelai, I'm here." He assured, pushing a piece of her wet hair out of her face. "I'm here…" the happy moment only lasted a second, before realization struck him. "Lorelai, what's hurting? You head? Did you break any bones?" He looked over her once again, noticing several cuts and scratches, but nothing that seemed too serious, except for the gash above her temple.

Lorelai swallowed. "I… I…" she couldn't manage to get the words out. "I don't know," she finally cried. "I don't anything anymore." Her shoulders shook and she lowered her head, letting the tears come.

It practically broke his heart seeing her like that; she was such a strong woman, seeing her like this wasn't easy. "Lorelai…" he started, not sure what to say to the hysterical woman. Reaching his arm out, he touched her shoulders, pulling her closer to him. Lorelai finally threw herself at him. Her body suddenly wracked by full-blown sobbing, she buried her face in his flannel shirt as she cried. Luke slipped his arm protectively around her. "It's okay," he soothed. "Let it out."

And let it out she did, she wailed trying to fend off a fresh wave of tears, she knew she was doing herself and no one any good by crying her eyes out, but she couldn't stop them. Lorelai's arm snuck around his shoulders, ignoring the pain, she buried her face against his neck until she couldn't even muster up the energy to cry anymore

Luke rubbed her back in a comforting way as she cried, he waited until she stopped before he pushed her away slightly, and looking at her face his eyes froze on the bloody gash. "You okay?"

Panicking, Lorelai's bloodshot eyes flew wide open as she tried to pull herself back into a sitting position. "I'm… I'm sorry," she muttered, wiping away her tears with the bottom of her soaked sleeve. "I didn't mean to…" swallowing she looked away, embarrassed.

"Lorelai?" Luke asked gently, not sure what had startled her. "What…?"

Lorelai just gazed up at him, blue eyes still bright and shiny with yet unshed tears. "I'm sorry," she apologized once again. "I'm really sorry, I uh, I don't know what I was thinking, calling you, throwing myself on you…" Wrapping her arms around her cold slim body, she winced, but quickly tried to hide it with a sniffle.

Luke caught the wince, but decided to ignore it at the moment. "What are you talking about?" He demanded. "Don't feel bad about calling me; you can call me whenever you need to. It's okay." He touched her face and pulled it took look at him. "We're friends. I'm here for you, whenever you need it, okay?"

Lorelai didn't respond, she simply stared at the ground beneath her, watching the raindrops splattered against the dirt.

"Okay," Luke said a moment later, his voice not hiding how confused he was. "I'm going to call an ambulance."

"No," Lorelai muttered quietly, shaking her head. "I'm good… I'm um, I'm okay." Looking up at the man before her she knew he wasn't buying it. "Really, I'm fine. I'll be all right, I just… I just need some sleep, I'll be fine."

"You are not fine." Luke insisted, slowly standing up he glanced back at his truck, where he'd stupidly left his phone. "I'll be right back." He gestured towards his truck. "You gonna to be okay?"

Lorelai didn't respond. Lowering her head back to the ground she sneezed then sniffled. She wasn't one who normally gave up in a fight, not that this was a fight, but she knew this time she didn't have a chance of escaping the hospital. Not that she could blame him. If she knew anyone in the same position, she would have done the same and insisted they see a doctor.

"Okay," Luke said uncomfortably. "I'll be right back." And with that he was off, leaving Lorelai alone in the rain once again…

Lorelai stiffened as he left, feeling the all-alone numbness come over her once again. Memories of the nightmare that was reality slowly trickling back into her bleary mind. Though the day seemed to drag on while she was living it, when she thought back she could have sworn it'd only been an hour since she woke up and had started the nightmare.

She barely looked up when she heard Luke slam his truck's door shut, before he hurried back over to her, dropping down on the ground next to her; he just sat there, not saying a word. Secretly she was relieved. She didn't want to talk. She didn't feel like talking, but yet, she had so much on her mind.

"They'll be here soon."

Lorelai nodded slowly, her eyes not moving from her place on the ground.

"So…" Luke started uncomfortably. "You wanna talk about it?"

Lorelai shook her head.

"Are you hurting?"

Again, another head shake.

Luke sighed uncomfortably. Reaching into his jacket pocket his slowly pulled out the bag from the mini mart. Fishing around for the twizzlers, he slowly handed them over to her, hoping it would cheer her up.

Lorelai looked up as a package was placed into her hands. She stared at the candy for a long minute, before the smallest smile spread across her face and tears filled her eyes. She looked up at her ex-fiancée, her sad smile growing wider as her eyes met his. Swallowing she turned back to the candy. "Why are you so good?" She asked quietly.

The question caught him off guard. "What?"

Lorelai felt another sob threatening to escape her. "Why are you so good?" She repeated her voice cracking. "You've always been so good to me – so good to everyone. You're always there for me…" The sob escaped. "You're always good, no matter what happens, you're there. You're always there, you know who you are, and you'll always be you. I don't know who I am anymore. Everything's so screwed up and I don't know how to fix it. I'm not the kind of girl who just curls up and cries if something happens, or at least I didn't used to be…"

Luke stared at the woman, stunned by her behavior. "Lorelai," he said, trying to calm her down, he moved over, wrapping his arms around her. "It's going to be okay, you need to calm down."

But Lorelai wouldn't be contained. Her voice grew louder, more hysterical, as she fought her way out of Luke's embrace, not even turning to look at him as she continued on. "Now it's like an addiction – lately that's all I do when something goes wrong. It's like… I'm stuck in this game that everyone keeps winning and I keep getting sent back to the beginning. It- it's like I'm stuck in this time zone, everyone's growing older and moving on with their lives, getting married, having kids. They're moving on with their lives while I'm stuck, suffocating, screwing up mine and everyone else's!"

"Lorelai…" Luke started again; maybe he should have bought Kleenex instead of twizzlers…

"I screwed up your life." Lorelai said bluntly. "I screwed up my parent's, Chris, Max, everyone! And it's too late to fix them all. I'm just stuck screwing up. Everything I do something bad happens. It's getting tiring! I hate it! I hate my screwed up life! Nothing I can ever do will ever fix it, it's too late." Lorelai wiped away her tears, like a broken faucet, they wouldn't go away. She couldn't believe she was letting her feelings out, to Luke no less, but she didn't care if he heard her anymore, she was sick of feeling this way.

Lorelai could feel her emotions getting the better of her, running untamed, washing over her and burying all her reservations like a landslide. And the words she's kept inside for so long rushed out of her like a flood, furious and unstoppable. But she didn't even attempt to stop; she had to let it all out.

Before Luke could chime in his opinion, Lorelai continued.

"I lost everyone," she muttered softly, managing to hold back yet, another threatening sob. "Everyone."

Luke reached over, touching her shoulder protectively he said. "You didn't lose anyone."

"I lost you." She said, sniffling back tears.

There was a brief pause before Luke replied: "You didn't lose me, Lorelai. Even if you wanted to, even if you had that little heart of yours dead set on it, you couldn't. I will always be here for you."

Lorelai managed to look up at him, her eyes glistening with tears, she blinked. "I know," she said quietly, her voice full of surprise. She didn't know how she knew that. She didn't know why he would ever say that. But deep down, she knew it to be true. Luke would always be there when she needed him, always, no matter how badly she'd treated him, or he her. "I know."

Squeezing her shoulder gently he nodded. "Good."

Lorelai found herself leaning towards him; laying her head down on his shoulders she knew everything was going to be just fine. Slowly, Lorelai opened her package of mini twizzlers, as she held it up to her face, she smiled. "You brought me candy," she said in a small voice.

Luke smiled back. "Yeah, I did."

Lorelai just stared at the piece in her hands, she didn't feel like eating it, not to mention now that it was covered in rain and was completely soaked it probably wouldn't taste so good, she just liked looking at it. Luke had voluntarily bought her candy with no comments about how it would shave years off her life… how could she have let this guy go?

Luke glanced down the road, anxiously waiting for the ambulance to arrive. As he did the coldness of the night was beginning to sink in. He hadn't realized how cold it was. Maybe because he had been so worried about Lorelai, or too busy trying to comfort her, whatever the reason, he almost wished it would come back and take the cold away.

Turning to the woman next to him, he noticed her staring. "Hey,"

"Hey."

He wasn't sure what else to say, wrapping his arm around her shoulders he let out a small sigh. "Damn cold nights…"

----

I'm really sorry about any and all of the mistakes in this chapter. My sister, AKA my beta, is mad at me for posting a super cute picture of her… so I have no beta for the moment. Hopefully she'll come around after much bribing and if not, well then you're stuck with me. Blame it on Morgann, not me!!! (Well, I guess partly me because I wrote this chapter and posted the picture…)

I appreciate any constructive criticism! Oh, and please review! ;)


	7. Knight In A Baseball Cap

A/N: Thank you all for the reviews! Someone asked me how much longer this story will be. After editing and stuff there's probably little over 40,000 words left for me to post…

**Chapter 7: Knight in a baseball cap… **

When Rory arrived at her grandparent's house, she spotted her grandma waiting outside the door for her, anxiety and worry etched across her face. Has Luke called and told her something had happened to her? Was she waiting for news? Either way Rory didn't see any reason to keep her waiting. Grabbing her phone, she parked her car and hurried over to her grandmother.

"Is everything okay?" Rory asked. "Is there any more news?"

Emily stared at her granddaughter for a moment before shaking her head. "No. Luke hasn't called. I take it he hasn't called you either?"

Rory shook her head. "No," she replied; her voice cracked. "No, he hasn't… I thought he would have found her by now. He seemed to have a pretty good idea where she was the last time I talked to him."

Emily sighed before ushering Rory out of the rain. "Have you tried calling him?" She asked as she watched their newest maid take her granddaughter's coat.

Rory nodded. "Yeah, I thought about it," she admitted. "But if Luke found something out he would have called- me continually bothering him won't help."

Emily eyed her carefully, not sure how to word this. "What if he found her and didn't have the chance to call?" She asked. "I mean what if he found her and she was… hurt. There's a chance he wouldn't have time to call us."

Rory glanced down at the phone in her hands. "Yeah…" she said slowly, letting her grandmother's words sink in. "But no," she corrected herself. "Luke would've called me. He knows that mom wouldn't want me to worry. Luke only has both our best interests in mind."

"Although Lorelai was the one who called off their wedding." Emily reminded her.

"Luke isn't like that!" Rory exclaimed. "He wouldn't do anything like that, Grandma. Luke isn't that kind of guy. He didn't volunteer for this job so he could hurt mom- he did it to _help _her. He did it because he cares what happens to her."

Emily went quiet for a minute before simply saying: "Fine." She turned and walked briskly into the living room, leaving one confused and worried Rory Gilmore in the foyer.

----

Lorelai sneezed.

"Are you doing all right?" Luke asked, turning to the shaking woman next to him.

"Yeah," Lorelai said softly, as she tried to hide another shiver. "Just… a little cold, that's all."

Luke nodded in agreement. That's when _it _hit him- like a baseball bat hitting him over his head. How could he have been so stupid? How did he not think of it sooner? Not letting his mind come up with any excuses, he squeezed Lorelai's shoulders. "Do you think you'll be able to stand?" he asked.

Lorelai blinked at his sudden question. "Yeah." Nodding her head slightly, she turned to him. "Why?"

"Well, I have a perfectly good truck sitting over there with a heater and blankets- well, _a_ blanket."

Lorelai looked over at the green truck, all alone in the rain. "It sounds great, Luke," she said; her voice wasn't convincing.

"What's the matter with it?" Luke asked, not understanding the problem.

"Nothing," Lorelai replied quickly, "It's just… um, I uh…"

"You what?"

Lorelai grimaced. "Last time I tried to stand I ended up on the ground." Before Luke had a chance to say anything, she quickly continued, "I probably moved too quickly and got dizzy. I just don't know if I'm ready to try again. I can barely hold my hand out, let alone move."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Lorelai shrugged. "I'm not sure," she said. "It wasn't a big deal. I just got a little dizzy, and that's all." She smiled innocently as Luke stared at her in disbelief.

The man let out a long frustrated sigh. Lorelai with a concussion and possibly more severe injuries. His day just kept getting better and better. "Okay," he said, slapping his hand across his knee. "I got an idea. I know you're not going to like it, but I don't care. I need to carry you to my truck so you don't catch your death in cold."

Lorelai opened her mouth to protest, but Luke quickly shushed her. "Meanie," she muttered. "The only reason you don't want me to die from a cold is because you want to blame it on what I eat."

Luke chuckled slightly, glad some of her humor returned. At least something was back to normal. "Okay," he said, scrambling onto his feet; he carefully slid his arms under her and rolled her into him. Feeling Lorelai's arms clasps around his neck, he smiled. "All set?" After waiting for a nod of approval, he headed off to his truck, stepping in a very large puddle of muddy water as he did. "Damn it."

The Gilmore giggled but was cut off by a sneeze.

"Shut up," Luke muttered as he neared the vehicle. "Oh, this is going to be a problem." He stared at the door, wishing he could grow another arm to open the door with.

Lorelai tapped Luke's shoulder. "Hey, let me down," she said.

"No," Luke objected, turning to look at her face. "You're in no condition-"

"I can stand!" She protested.

"You just told me the last time you tried to stand you ended up on the ground. I'm not putting you down, Lorelai." Luke eyed the truck again. "I got this, okay? I just… got to…" Shifting the woman in his arms as best he could to one side, he tried to stretch out his hand from underneath her, but it didn't work. Lorelai began to slip forward; grabbing her from around the waist, he managed to catch her, but not before she was slammed into the side of his door, hitting her already injured arm.

She let out a soft cry as the pain shot through her arm and settled in her shoulder. She could feel the tears she had been trying to hold back starting to fall. "Put me down," she ordered through clenched teeth.

Luke looked horrified at what happened. "I am so, so sorry," he quickly apologized "Lorelai, I didn't-"

"Luke. Put me down _now_," she ordered again; she leaned forward, trying to force him to let her down.

Luke was about to object again when he realized she was right. He carefully lowered her to her feet, not letting go of her waist until her hands grabbed hold of his truck, balancing herself. "Are you okay?" He realized what stupid question that was a moment later. "I'm sorry, I-"

Lorelai held up her hand for him to stop, but as she let go of the only thing holding her up, she fell, skinning her knees once again. Her hands braced her fall but the pain from the impact made her groan. Luke knelt next to her, apologizing over and over; she could barely hear his words as the rain washed around them. She stayed in that position for a good minute, despite Luke's attempts to help her up.

"Lorelai?" Luke reached over and touched her back. "What's wrong? What can I do?"

Lorelai hadn't realized it until now; she hadn't been breathing this whole time. Allowing herself gulps of fresh air, she felt the burning in her chest slowly fade away. As she opened her eyes; her tears blurred the road. She started to rise to her feet when she suddenly felt very sick… before she even had time to react, she felt herself begin to throw up.

The sudden vomiting surprised Luke, but he quickly leaned over and pulled her hair away from her mouth as she emptied her entire stomach to the ground. It seemed to last for hours; although in reality it was no more then a few minutes. When she finally stopped, he looked at her. She was slightly green; her eyes were filled with tears, but what he noticed the most was the expression of pain on her face. "Are you done?" He asked gently, as he slowly let her wet hair drop back across her face.

Lorelai sniffed. She felt terrible, but nodded. "Yeah." Wiping her hand across her mouth, she wished she had some water or something to get rid of the bitter taste. "I'm fine." As she stared at his worried expression she added, "I'll be okay… I'm sorry."

Luke stared at her, mind boggled. "Why are you apologizing?" he asked. "I'm the one who made you hit your shoulder. Hell, I'm the one who dragged you over here in the first place."

"I'm the one who made you come out here, I-"

"Okay," Luke interjected. "Let's stop with the whole 'it's my fault' and get you into the truck. Are you okay to move?"

"I uh," Lorelai looked down. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Luke eyed her, not convinced. "Lorelai?" He asked. "What the matter? Do you feel sick again?" He pushed away a piece of hair that had fallen across her face.

"More dizzy then sick," she muttered, rubbing her arms up and down her arms. "And cold."

Luke nodded. "Okay." Being dizzy and vomiting after a head injury probably wasn't the best signs that she was okay. "I'm going to open the door and help you inside, all right?"

"Okay," she murmured, not really paying attention to what he was saying. She sat there, taking deep breaths, while Luke opened the door. She felt his arms slide over her 'good' shoulder and waist as he began to pull her upwards. The dizziness came back, more powerful then ever. As Luke tried to stand her on her feet, she wasn't able to carry her own weight, her legs fell out from under her, but Luke managed to hold her up. The world seemed to be spinning; she could no longer tell what was happening. Even when Luke settled her into the passenger seat in his car, she felt herself slipping into the world of the unconscious…

Luke hurried over to the driver's door after he'd settled Lorelai into her seat. As he jumped into the truck, with the door slamming behind him, he looked at her. Her head rested against the back of her seat, her breathing was labored and eyes closed. "Lorelai?" He asked, reaching over her touched her cheek slightly. "Lorelai, talk to me."

When she didn't answer, he felt himself shaking her shoulders, trying to awaken her. He knew it wasn't good for her to sleep, especially if she had a concussion. He slapped her cheeks gently but nothing happened. She wouldn't wake up.

"Lorelai!" He shouted.

Suddenly she jumped; her eyes fluttered open, confused at her new surroundings. She squeezed her eyes closed at the light Luke had turned on. "Ugh," she groaned.

"Sorry," Luke replied, instantly flicking the light back off. "I wasn't thinking, I just… how are you feeling? Any better?"

Lorelai didn't say anything for a minute. "Yeah, I think so…" She took in a long breath as she felt the car stop spinning and her eyes clearing up. Plastering a smile across her face, she turned to Luke. "I'm fine. Thank you."

He turned on the heater and reached behind his seat; he pulled out a large wool blanket, which he promptly passed over to Lorelai.

"Thank you, Luke." She wrapped the blanket around her shivering body and offered him a slight smile. "For everything, you've done so much…"

Luke shook his head bashfully. "Nah, slamming you against the door, keeping you out in the freezing cold rain, it was nothing."

With a sigh, Lorelai turned to look out the window. It felt as though they were the only two people left in the world. She didn't remember the last time she'd spent so much time without the presence of more then just one person. As the rain smeared against her window, it made a rhythm. If Rory were here, and she was in a better mood, she might have created one of her silly songs. Rory…

"Luke?" Lorelai asked, her voice slightly quivering. "How's Rory?"

Luke looked over at her. "Um, I haven't actually seen her today. But she sounded like she was okay. Scared and worried, but okay I think… oh crap."

Lorelai looked up, alarmed at his sudden voice change. "What?" she demanded. When Luke didn't respond right away, she grew worried. "Luke? What's wrong? What-"

"I forgot to call Rory back." He said, grabbing his phone from the dashboard and dialing the young girl. "Rory?" He said a moment later. "Yeah, it's Luke. I found her."

Lorelai could hear her daughter's exclamation. "_How is she? Is she okay_?"

Luke glanced at Lorelai who held out her hand for the phone. He passed it over. "Hey," Lorelai said quietly. "I'm all right." She listened to Rory for another minute. "Seriously, Rory, I'm okay. Luke called an ambulance-"

"_An ambulance_? _Oh god, mom_-_what _happened?"

Lorelai's blanket slipped off her shoulders. She automatically reached down for it; the sudden move reawaked the pain in her head. She couldn't stop the small cry that escaped her.

"_Mom? **Mom**_?"

Luke took the phone from Lorelai and quickly assured her that her mother would be okay and he'd call her from the hospital before hanging up. A quick glance at Lorelai showed she was still in pain. He reached over, trying to help, when Lorelai swatted his hand away.

"I'm fine Luke," she managed to say as she shooed him away. "I just-"

"You're not fine, Lorelai," Luke objected firmly, realizing even more how serious her injuries were. "You're not fine."

Lorelai groaned as she fell back against the seat. "My head is killing me! I just need an aspirin."

"No, what you need is a doctor," Luke said; he switched the car light back on. "Here, let me take a look at it."

"No, Luke," Lorelai moaned, covering her eyes with her arm. "I'm okay, really, I just moved too fast, that's all."

"Lorelai…" Luke started. "Let me look at it."

Lorelai reluctantly agreed. Biting the bottom of her lip, she kept her eyes closed as Luke gently turned her face to look at him. She didn't want to hear what he'd say.

Luke silently winced as he pushed her damp hair away from the wound, taking in the amount of blood oozing out of the gash and into her hair. He felt like kicking himself for not checking it sooner. It would definitely need several stitches. Reaching into the glove compartment, he pulled out a first aid kit. Rummaging through it, he found a bandage and moved it over to her forehead to stop the bleeding. He didn't want to mess around with the gash too much; he'd let the paramedics do that whenever they arrived.

How long had it been since he called them? Shouldn't they be here by now?

Lorelai winced as Luke applied pressure to her head; another shot of pain hit her, but she managed to hide it. She thought Luke would say something about how she should have done this, or shouldn't have done that, but he didn't. He remained silent. It actually made her feel uncomfortable. "How bad is it?"

"Eh," was the only response she received.

"What's that supposed to mean, eh?" She asked.

"It means that is doesn't look all that bad. A couple stitches, and you'll be good to go." Luke shrugged. "You'll probably be heading home in no time."

"You're a horrible liar, Luke Danes." The Gilmore said as she opened her eyes to find herself inches away from the man.

"Well, I try so hard."

Lorelai swallowed. "Seriously, Luke, how bad is it?"

Luke pulled his hand away to look at her. "Seriously?" He repeated. "I don't know."

She accepted that. "So, when do you think your friends are gonna join us?"

"Huh?"

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "The ambulance?"

"Oh!" Luke exclaimed, feeling slightly foolish he hadn't caught on right away. "Um, I don't know. I didn't think it would take them this long. But then again, it took me a while to get here."

She sneezed. "Yeah," Lorelai sniffled.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked, before realizing how stupid that sounded. "I mean, I know you're not _okay _okay. I just meant, are _you _okay?"

Lorelai smiled as she wiped away a few loose tears. "Yeah," she responded. "I'm sorry; I don't know what I'm crying. There's nothing left to cry about."

He sat there helplessly as he watched her try to hide her tears from him. He wanted to say something, anything, preferably something to make the tension feel light, but he couldn't think of anything. So he just sat there, watching her cry, trying his best to comfort her without making her feel even more embarrassed then she already was.

It seemed like an hour had dragged by before he draped his arm around her shoulder, doing his best not to touch the 'bad' one. She buried her face into his neck, no longer crying, just whimpering. He ran his hand through her hair; the familiar scent of her shampoo brought a small smile to his face. Every week she got a new scent, this week was lavender- his mom's favorite flowers.

"Lorelai," he said softly. "Do you want the radio on?" He heard her chuckle, which was a good sign.

"No," she replied through an obvious smile. "Thanks."

Luke nodded. "Okay." He cleared his throat. "You know I just thought I'd ask… you never know when someone wants to listen to some crappy music, but they don't mention it. So, I just thought I'd ask." _Idiot!_ He screamed in his head. "Okay, I'm going to shut up now."

Lorelai snickered. "No, don't, I like listening to you."

Raising a brow, Luke looked down at the pile of curly hair. "Really?" He asked.

"Yeah," she said. "You have a… I don't know, this is going to sound silly, you have a comforting voice. Like, when you say everything's going to be all right, I actually believe you. Now, if you had… let's say my mom or even my dad say it, well, you wouldn't believe them. But you…" Trailing off, she pulled her head away from his neck and looked him in the eyes. "You have a good voice– like people have a good heart, you have a good voice."

Luke couldn't help a laugh. "Okay, that's it- you're completely insane. Maybe you did more then crack your head open."

Lorelai opened her mouth to respond, when from the corner of her eyes, she saw the flashing lights of an ambulance. "Luke," she said quietly, pulling herself away from him. "They're here."

"What?" Luke glanced over his shoulders. "Oh thank god!" He breathed as he turned on his trucks light to let them know where they were. "I thought they would never come." Turning back to Lorelai, he said: "I'll be right back, okay?" As he opened his door to prepare to step out, Lorelai grabbed his hand.

"You promise?"

Looking into her deep blue eyes, Luke would have agreed to do anything. "I promise." He said, before closing the door after him, he ran down the road somewhat and waved as the ambulances and police cars pulled over.

Lorelai leaned her body back against the seat. Closing her eyes, she felt a wave relief wash over her. Though she was somewhat disappointed at the timing, she was happy the ambulance was finally here. Once they checked her and made sure she was all right and wasn't about to die, she could sleep. Sleep sounded like a million dollar luxury right now, she'd never been so tired in her life.

Everything was a blur to Luke as he informed the police and paramedics what happened, well; he told them as much as he knew which wasn't too much because Lorelai didn't really tell him what happened. The paramedic he'd been talking to seemed worried when Luke told him that she'd thrown up and when she was unconscious it took a minute before he could awaken her.

Before he even knew it, the paramedics had Lorelai on a gurney, her neck immobilized. They pushed her towards the ambulance. As the red and white lights flashed across her face, Luke took in a deep breath and shoved his hands into his pockets. She looked so helpless lying against the white mattress, her eye battling to remain open, a battle she was quickly losing. Luke started towards her but was intercepted by a police officer who started questioning him.

By the time the paramedics were ready to pull out, Luke was back in his truck, ready to follow them to the hospital. He'd told the police as much as he could, but they didn't seem convinced- they mentioned they'd have to come by the hospital and get a statement from Lorelai herself.

As he turned his key and started the engine, he made a U-turn and followed the ambulance that carried his ex-fiancée. He had promised that he would be with her and he would be.

----

My sister loves me again! (And I didn't even have to bribe her). So, thanks Morgann for editing this chapter!

Please review!


	8. The Torture Of Waiting

**Chapter 8: The torture of waiting… **

The ride to the hospital seemed to have taken an abnormally long time to Luke; he breathed a sigh of relief when they finally reached their destination. On the way there, he had contacted Sookie and let her know what was happening. The chef had been relieved to hear from him and didn't reproach him from not contacting her sooner; all she wanted to know is if Lorelai was okay. Luke hadn't had the chance to talk to the paramedics about Lorelai and didn't know if she was actually okay now, but he knew she would be. She was, after all, in very capable hands, not to mention she was a Gilmore.

As he parked, he looked around, trying to find Rory's car, but he didn't spot it.

Where was she? Shouldn't she be here by now? It didn't take long to drive from her grandparent's house to St. Francis's hospital, did it?

He hurried into the hospital, his damp clothes becoming quickly soaked again. In the entryway, he paused.

Where was Rory? He didn't want to take another step in until she was here. Heck, he'd even take one of her grandparents right now.

He wasn't sure when his phobia of hospitals started – he guessed years and years ago, when his father had been stuck in one for months after a stroke, before he died. All those days and weeks… he never got used to the hospital smell, or all the nurses, doctors and families that would visit their loved ones. But what he hated the most was the sick people themselves- his dad and Lorelai excluded. He hated that they were everywhere, sick or hurt. He also hated the hospital gowns they forced their patients to wear. He'd seen one too many moon shots and swore to himself he would _never _get sick enough to be forced to wear one. There was no way he'd be caught dead showing off his rear end to everyone and their brothers.

Luke sighed as he stared at the admission's desk; he wanted to wait until one of Lorelai's family members was with him, but he needed to check on Lorelai. With a sigh, he walked over to the counter and cleared his throat, getting the attention of a young nurse on the phone. Holding up a finger for him to wait, she quickly finished up the conversation and hung up the phone. Turning to Luke, she forged a smile across her face.

"Hello," she greeted in a too friendly sort of tone. "What can I help you with?"

"Uh," Luke looked around, praying Rory would pop out of nowhere, but she didn't. "My uh," he looked back at the nurse. "My um, my friend, she was just brought in. She'd been in a car crash and I followed them here. I got separated when they took her through the ambulance's entrance… I um…"

The woman nodded understandingly. "All right, sir." She picked up a pen. "Now, were you involved with the accident?"

Luke stood there, stunned for a moment by her question. "What? Me?" He asked. "No, no, no. She uh, she called me to pick her up. I'm the one who called the ambulance."

"Okay, so you're just friends." The woman clarified. "Do you know if any of her family has been informed?"

Luke nodded. "Yeah, I uh, called her daughter. She and her grandparents are on their way right now. They should be here any minute."

The nurse nodded. "Good, good." She typed something into the computer. "Has her husband been notified?"

"What?" Luke practically shouted, thrown off by her question. "She doesn't have a husband!"

The nurse stood up, alarmed at his sudden change in behavior. "I'm sorry sir, you mentioned daughter, I just assumed-"

"Well, don't assume! Now," he said, beginning with a calmer voice, "Can you tell me how she's doing?"

The nurse slowly shook her head. "I'm really sorry, sir, but I can't give out that information to anyone but family right now."

"What?" His voice began to rise. "My ex-fiancée was just brought in here after a car accident; she could be seriously hurt, and you won't even tell me if she's all right?"

"I'm sorry, sir," she said wearily, "it's hospital policy. I can't help you."

"I know about the damn policy and I don't care! What kind of hospital is this? I need to see her- I need to know if she's okay, _please_!" He felt the anger boiling inside of him, but he couldn't stop it. Why wouldn't this woman at least tell him if she was okay? What could be so bad about that?

The lady sucked in a long breath- she'd obviously had dealt with his types before. "Okay, sir, why don't you just go sit down, calm down, and when her family arrives, they can make the decision if they want you to know about her condition."

Luke was about to protest when from the corner of his eye he spotted a security guard. With one last glare, he sat down. He was there a good five minutes before he heard a familiar voice calling his name. Glancing up, he saw Rory running over to him, tears streaked across her face and her arms wide open for a hug.

Standing up, he caught her in his arms, letting her cry for a moment before he pulled her away. "It's okay," he comforted. "Rory, everything's going to be all right, okay?"

Rory met his eyes before nodding. "Yeah, of course she will." She said, wiping away the remainder of her tears. "I mean, she's my mom, she's Lorelai." She gave him a shaky smile. "I just… I don't know. Nothing like this has ever happened before. I mean, I know I got into an accident, but it wasn't anything serious… Oh, god Luke!"

"Rory," Luke cut in. "It's going to be just fine."

Nodding again, Rory turned around as her grandparents walked over; the two Gilmore adults looked unusually tense. Rory hurried over and gave each a hug, before turning back to Luke. "What did they say? How is she? Can we see her?"

"I um, they uh… I…" He shoved his hands into his pockets and looked down. "They wouldn't tell me, I'm not family."

Emily nodded understandingly. "I'll be right back," she said as she turned and headed towards the admission's desk, her husband quickly followed.

"How did she seem?" Rory asked. "I mean, was she all right? She didn't have any broken bones did she?"

Luke shook his head hastily. "No, um, not that I know of… she had a pretty bad gash on her forehead, and um, something was wrong with her shoulder. She didn't tell me what was wrong."

"Yeah, mom probably wouldn't." Rory swallowed as she crossed her arms. "When you say a 'bad' gash, what does that mean?"

"Um, it was bleeding and it looked kinda deep, but nothing life threatening…"

Rory nodded. She opened her mouth to speak when she heard her grandmother's shouting from across the large room. Turning around, she saw Emily arguing with a nurse. "Oh no," she muttered, hurrying over to the scene. "Grandma!" She scolded. "What's the problem?"

"She won't tell me what's going on!" Emily complained, sounding like a small child who hadn't gotten her way.

"What?" Rory asked, turning to the lady. "Why not? We're family!"

The nurse shook her head slightly. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to sound like that. What I meant to say is that I can't tell you how she is because she's in surgery at the moment."

"Surgery!" Emily exclaimed, placing her hand over her heart.

"Surgery," Rory echoed, fearing the worse.

The woman nodded. "Yes, she's in surgery at the moment."

Luke cleared his throat, placing his hands on Rory's shoulders. "Do you know when she'll be out of surgery?"

The woman shook her head slowly. "No," she said sympathetically. "No, I don't know, I'm sorry. But, I can direct you to the waiting room and have a doctor come and tell you when they're done."

"Yes," Richard said, speaking for the first time. "Thank you."

Emily and Rory remained behind to fill out the insurance forms, Rory stayed at Emily's request, while Luke and Richard took the elevator to the third level. They walked into the waiting room, finding it completely empty. They took a seat, neither one of them saying a word.

After several minutes, Luke restlessly began to drum his fingers on the armrest of his chair. He wasn't comfortable to be around Lorelai's dad without someone else present. Heck, he didn't like to be around the man at any time! As he shifted in his chair for the hundredth time, he glanced up at the clock. He couldn't believe it was already well past midnight.

"So," Richard said suddenly, causing Luke to jump slightly. "Rory told us you found Lorelai."

Luke nodded stupidly. "Yeah, I um, I did."

"Hmm."

Luke swallowed, feeling as though he were in trouble for something. "Well, Rory called me and told me what was going on. I just thought I should-"

"Do you still have feelings for my daughter, Luke?" Richard asked, not even looking at the man.

"What?" Luke stared at the man. "That's none-"

The doors to the room flew open and Emily entered, followed by her granddaughter. "Richard," she called, "did you know Lorelai had the measles? We vaccinated her- how could she possibly have had the measles?" She turned to Rory for an explanation.

"I don't know, Grandma," Rory said wearily.

Emily scowled. "Why didn't your mother ever tell us she had the measles?"

"It just never came up," Rory said. "I mean, we don't tell you every time we have a cold."

"The measles is not just a cold, Rory," her grandma said firmly. "What if I had been filling out those forms? I wouldn't have known she had the measles!"

Rory looked down, guiltily. "I don't know, I don't think it would have matter with a car crash."

Emily would have continued if Richard hadn't pulled her away and sat her down, doing his best to calm her.

"Are you all right?" Luke asked.

Rory looked up. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's mom who you should be worried about. After all, she is the one in surgery right now. She's the one who found Paul Anka dead _and_ she's the one who's going to get into a lot of trouble from grandma about everything." Letting out a sigh, she nodded. "I'm fine."

"Hey," Luke said gently. "It's going to be okay."

"I know," Rory said. "I just… I just can't help but think if I had only read those messages sooner, everything would have been all right. That maybe she wouldn't have gotten into a car accident. Maybe she would have been fine."

Luke knew she was frustrated with the situation more than anything else, but he heard the tinge of guilt in her voice. "Hey," he said quietly, but firmly. "It wasn't your fault."

A tear sparkled in Rory's eyes as she slowly nodded. Luke gave her a small smile and pulled her into another hug.

"Lorelai will be fine…"

----

Thanks Morgann for editing this!

Please review!


	9. Mom’ll Love It

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews guys! It's great to hear from you. I love knowing that everyone is enjoying this story!

Thanks Morgann! (Note from beta: I wanted to say thank you to Copop for the nice comment! It's nice to be appreciated.)

**Chapter 9: Mom'll love it… **

An hour dragged by. No one left the room. People came and left the waiting room, but the Gilmores and Luke remained, waiting for news about the one they loved…

Rory lifted her head off of Luke's shoulder and shook it, trying to keep her eyes open. She was exhausted but she couldn't let herself sleep before she found out what was happening with her mother.

Richard and Emily sat on the chairs closer to the operating room. Holding each other's hands, they stole glances at their granddaughter ever so often, before their eyes settled back on their laps.

Luke had his arm wrapped protectively around Rory; secretly relieved she hadn't started crying again. He'd had too much crying from the Gilmore women lately and he didn't think he could handle another round of tears. As he waited, his mind wandered from subject to subject. Was Lorelai going to be all right? Had he reminded Caesar to lock up the diner? Should he go to the vending machines and grab something for Rory to eat?

When Rory sniffed, Luke squeezed her shoulder gently, trying to comfort her without words. He knew this had to be hard on her; the mother daughter bond between her and Lorelai was the strongest parent-child bond he'd ever seen. He couldn't imagine what would happen if something happened to it – not that it would. He hated himself for even thinking that. Everything was going to be all right- Lorelai was okay. After all, it was only a few broken bones and 'stuff'.

Sitting up, Rory turned to Luke. "Um," she said weakly. "I'm going to grab some coffee… I don't think I can stay awake without it. Do you need anything?" Luke shook his head. Rory asked her grandparents who quickly refused her offer.

Walking down the long white halls, Rory pulled her jacket tighter, feeling cold all of the sudden. As she neared the vending machine, she reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out the only dollar she had.

As she inserted the bill into the machine, she selected the strongest coffee they could possibly have, hoping it would keep her awake. She stood there a moment, waiting for the coffee to fill her cup, but nothing happened.

She slammed her fists against the machine. "Come on, work you piece of crap!" She kicked the bottom of it and glared at it. "Come on!" She felt the tears stinging her eyes.

"Are you all right?" Someone asked from behind her. Spinning on her heels, she faced an elderly male nurse.

"No," she responded hastily as wiping her eyes free from tears, embarrassed at her outburst. "I mean, yes, I'm fine, really, it's just this… damn coffee machine. It isn't working." She gestured to the device behind her.

The man nodded and walked over to her, "Yeah, this thing's been messed up for a while, you just got to get the hang of it." Slapping the top slightly, he pushed the coffee button hard and immediately the liquid began to fill her cup. "There you go."

"Thanks," Rory said slowly with a grateful nod. "I'm sorry… I don't normally freak out like that; I'm just… well…" Trailing off, she grabbed her change and coffee.

"I understand." The man smiled. "I hope everything works out for you."

"Thank you," Rory gave him a genuine smile. "And thank you again, for the coffee. I don't think I could have stayed awake another minute without it."

"No problem."

----

As Rory came back with coffee in her hands, Luke could tell it was helping. She wasn't as pale as she had been a moment ago, and she didn't look like she was about to pass out from exhaustion, always a good sign. She sighed as she sat beside him and sipped her coffee before resting her head on his shoulder again.

"Are you okay?" Luke inquired.

"Yeah," she barely muttered. "The stupid coffee maker didn't work." Glancing at him, she asked in a low voice, not wanting to disturb her grandparents. "Why do you think it's taking them so long?"

Luke shrugged, not mention that the question had been on his mind for a while now. "I don't know," he said finally. "They're probably just checking everything right now, just making sure she's okay."

Rory nodded. "Yeah, probably." Sighing, she opened her mouth to say something else when she heard the doors to the operating room open. Everyone turned as a doctor walked into the room, heading straight for them.

"Are you Lorelai Gilmore's family?" He asked, his expression not betraying whatever news he was hiding.

"Yes," Emily said at once, jumping to her feet. "Yes, I'm her mother. This is my husband and granddaughter." She gestured to Richard and Rory, who moved quickly to her side. "How is she? Can we see her?"

"Soon," the doctor promised. "We had to do a CT scan- Lorelai has a serious concussion; we definitely want to keep an eye on that. And besides the fact she was dehydrated, she has a sternoclavicular joint sprain."

"Um, what is a sternoclaverical… whatever you said, what's that?" Luke asked, walking over to them and placing his hand on Rory's shoulder as he saw her tremble.

"Well, when the sternoclavicular is sprained, which is common in auto accidents like this one, ligaments between the collarbone and breastbone are visibly torn," the doctor said slowly, so they could keep up. "But ligaments between the collarbone and ribs remain intact, so the joint is slightly deformed, but retains some connection.

"How did that happen in an accident?" Emily asked, keeping her voice as calm as she could.

The man folded his hands. "This injury in an auto accident is caused by the driver's chest striking the steering wheel," he explained.

"Then what was the reason for surgery?" Richard asked, as if he understood everything the doctor had said.

"She had some bleeding behind her skull from the impact. We cleaned it up and it should heal up nicely."

Rory nodded nervously, trying to process all the information at once. Although she didn't understand all the doctor had said, she managed to keep up with him for the most part. "She's okay, right?" She found herself asking. "We can see her?"

The doctor nodded. "You can see her as soon as the nurses get her settled in her room. Someone will come find you."

"When do you think she'll be able to get out of here?" Emily asked.

"We'd like to keep her here for a twenty-four hour observation," the surgeon said. "After that she can go home, but she'll have to take it easy."

Richard nodded, satisfied with the man. "Thank you," he said.

The doctor nodded. Lingering around for another moment, he turned and left the room.

Relief washed over the faces of everyone. Luke squeezed Rory tightly, feeling better then he had in a long time. Though he knew Lorelai wouldn't be riding a bicycle anytime soon, at least she was going to be all right. There wasn't anything to worry about.

Rory smiled as she pulled out of Luke's hug and turned to her grandparents who stood there not sure what to do. "Mom's going to be okay," Rory said slowly, more to herself then anyone else. "Mom's okay! She's really okay!" Throwing her arms around her grandfather, she squeezed him tightly before she turned to embrace her grandma. Tears streamed down her cheeks, not the tears that had once been, but tears of joy, tears of relief. "Everything's going to be okay now."

For the first time that day, Emily felt a smile spread across her face. "Yeah," she said softly. She turned to her husband. Wrapping an arm around his waist, she leaned her head against him. "Lorelai is going to be just fine."

----

The nurse came to tell them they could visit Lorelai a few minutes later. As Emily and Richard grabbed their things, Luke wrapped his arm around Rory. If Lorelai looked the same as she had when he'd first seen her, he knew it would be a shock to her daughter. As the small group followed the nurse to the room, none of them were sure what to expect. As they neared the room, the nurse turned back to them.

"Remember, she just came out of surgery, so she'll be asleep for a while," she warned. "So don't worry if she doesn't answer you- she'll wake up soon enough."

They all simultaneously nodded as they entered the room. Emily was the first to see Lorelai lying in the bed. Her untamed curls fell around her face and almost hid the bandage on her left side. Her right arm was in a sling and she noticed a few cuts on her arms and neck. Emily raised her hand to her mouth to keep herself from gasping. Her daughter looked so… fragile, lying unconscious on the bed.

Rory didn't say anything as she made her way over to her mother's side, Luke still holding onto her. Tears filled her eyes once again; though she knew her mom was okay, it was still hard seeing her like this.

Luke noticed Rory shaking as she stared at her mother. He leaned behind her and pulled the chair in the corner closer. Pushing Rory down on top of it, he kneeled beside the bed, taking in the sight for the first time. She wasn't as pale as she was earlier, but in the clearer light he noticed more scrapes and scratches running up and down her arms. He turned back at Rory, who hadn't taken her eyes off Lorelai. "Your mom's fine, Rory," he said comfortingly. "She's okay."

Even Richard seemed shaken by the sight of his daughter. Grabbing his wife's hand, he began to rub it gently. Though Richard wasn't one to show emotions, he felt a tear slid down his cheek, which he promptly brushed away.

"She looks so… so…" Rory couldn't get the words out.

Luke quickly chimed in. "She looks peaceful." He patted the young Gilmore's shoulder. "She looks really peaceful."

Rory nodded, thankful. "Yeah, peaceful," she agreed. Taking her mom's hand into hers, she rubbed it, as if trying to wake her up. The hand felt cold against her own, which was unusual; Rory was normally the one with the cold hands. Abandoning the hand, Rory inched closer to her mom's face and whispered into her ear. "Mom? Mom, can you hear me?"

Lorelai didn't budge.

"Okay," Emily said suddenly, turning to her granddaughter and Luke. "Your grandfather and I are going to the gift shop, although they probably only have a few cheap items, hopefully we can find something suitable. Rory, do you need anything? Something to eat? You probably haven't eaten since this whole thing happened."

Rory shook her head. "No, I'm not hungry. Thanks. Oh, and hey, can you grab mom a balloon with a dog-" She caught herself. Swallowing, she continued, "Um, can you get a balloon with, I don't know, a butterfly on it?"

Her grandma nodded understandingly. "Yes, all right," she said. "And I'm grabbing you something to eat- it isn't good for you to starve yourself." She was about to head out the door when she stopped herself; glancing back at Luke she asked, "Luke, do you need anything?"

Luke looked up, surprised by Emily's question. "No," he said carefully. "No thanks, I'm good. I might grab something from the vending machines later."

Emily gave a curt nod before walking out the door, Richard following close behind, leaving Luke and Rory alone with Lorelai.

"I don't know what to say to her." Rory suddenly said. "I don't know how I'm supposed to talk to her. I mean, am I supposed to keep my voice light and happy? Mom probably would get annoyed, but, you know… or, am I supposed to like, not really talk at all? Am I supposed to just let her sleep? I don't know what to say! I don't know what to do!"

Luke quickly reached over, trying to quiet her. "Rory, it's okay, just… calm down. It'll be all right. Just… talk to her like you would if she wasn't in the hospital, I think she would like that better then pretending," he said. "But whatever you do, she'll just be thrilled that you're here."

Rory nodded, before a thought floated in her head. "What if she doesn't remember me?" She turned to look at Luke, her faced alarmed. "What if she has amnesia?"

Luke smiled slightly; Rory in her panicking stage was as cute as ever. "Rory, your mom is going to be just fine. There's no way she could ever forget you, _ever_."

"I know, but… what if she did?"

Luke glanced back at Lorelai. "I think the doctors would have mentioned something about that."

"What if they didn't know?"

"_Rory._"

Rory sighed. "I know, I'm sorry, I don't know why, but I'm… I'm nervous." She looked away. "I mean, I know mom's okay and she'll be all right. But I can't help but think that… she'll be different, you know? That she won't be the same Lorelai everyone knows. What if she's an entirely new person? Some people after going through something like this… change. They don't talk to their old friends, they just… change."

"I don't think there's anything that could change your mom," Luke said frankly. "Though some may try, nobody can. It's a good thing too, because she's perfect, just the way she is." Luke hadn't meant to say the last part out loud. He felt himself blush; turning away, he stood up. "Um, I'll be right back, okay?"

Rory nodded before realizing he couldn't see her. "Yeah, okay." With that, Luke quickly left the room, leaving Rory alone with her mom. A small grin plastered across her face and Rory took a quick glance towards the door. "Did you hear that, mom? Did you hear what Luke just said? He said you were perfect just the way you were… that's number one on your list."

Ever since what happened with Christopher, her mom had made a list of what she wants in a guy. Though the list was endless and Rory knew her mother would never find a guy that was on there for everything, she knew that Luke would be close. He liked her the way she was- that was number one.

Rory could think of another million things where Luke qualified for on the list…

"I'm back!" Luke announced, stepping into the room with two water bottles in his hands. "Here you go." He handed Rory. "I take it she hasn't woken up." He gestured towards Lorelai.

Rory shook her head. "Nope," she replied with a small sigh.

"Well, the doctors said it'd be a little bit." Luke said. "She hasn't even been in here for ten minutes. Give her some more time."

Rory unscrewed the cap to the bottle and took a few gulps of water. "Thank you, Luke."

"Yeah, no problem."

They sat in silence for a good minute before a nurse walked into the room with a friendly smile on her face. "Hey," she greeted, maneuvering around Rory to check on her mom's vitals. "It's looking good." Turning to Rory, she smile. "My name is Cassandra; I'm going to be checking up on your mom."

"I'm Rory, her daughter."

The blond haired woman looked surprised. "Daughter? Really?" She glanced at Lorelai. "I would have thought you were a sister."

"Yeah," Rory said sheepishly. "We get that a lot."

Cassandra leaned over and shook Lorelai's shoulder slightly. "Hey, sleeping head," she said in a quiet voice. "You need to wake up, your daughter's here."

Lorelai stirred slightly.

"It's okay," Rory said quickly. "She probably needs to sleep."

The woman turned and smiled. "Actually, it's routine," she said. "I'm just making sure your mom's all right."

Rory nodded slowly. "So, you have to wake them up?" she questioned.

"Yes. After surgery we try to wake our patients up, if they don't respond then, well, it can get bad. But your mother is responding. She's doing really well; she'll probably be awake in no time at all." Patting Rory's shoulder, she headed towards the door. "I'll be back in a little bit, if you need anything…"

"Yeah, thank you." Luke gave Rory an encouraging pat. "Well, did you hear that? She's doing great."

Rory smiled. "Yeah, she is."

"What's the matter?" Emily demanded as she entered the hospital room, her hands full of bags and a balloon and Richard on her heels. "Why was the nurse in here? Is everything okay? Did they say something about Lorelai?"

Rory shook her head. "No, she was just checking on her, seeing if mom was responding. She's fine."

Emily stood there for a moment before nodding. "Okay," she said. Moving over to her granddaughter, she handed her the balloon she requested and a bag filled with food. "I thought you would prefer taco bell then something healthy, so, here you go."

"Thanks, grandma," Rory said, accepting the food, but not bothering to open the bag. "And thank you for the balloon; mom's going to love it."

"I'm sure she will." Emily agreed. Taking a bag out of her husband's hand, she pulled out a stuffed bear with a box of chocolates wrapped around it. "As silly as I thought this was, I know your mother will enjoy." As she squeezed the stuffed animal's tummy, it quickly shouted out: "Get well soon!"

Rory smiled. "Yeah, she'll love it."

Richard placed the vase of daisies on the nightstand next to his daughter before he moved back over to his wife. "There, flowers, a balloon and a rather silly bear. Are we forgetting anything?"

Rory shook her head. "No, grandpa, this is perfect. Mom'll love it."

The elderly man smiled slightly. "Good."

----

Okay, I'll try and get the next one up as soon as possible! Thanks for reading and please review!


	10. I Want Them All

A/N: For the people who I received numerous PM's from, I would never, NEVER kill off Lorelai or any other main character in my stories. I love all the characters in Gilmore Girls, Nichole and Christopher excluded. All though I guess you do really need Chris in there if you wanted Rory… that's beside the point. I don't think I'll ever kill anyone off. Though I do love to add a bit of drama, nothing that serious I hope. Anyway, thank you all for reviewing! It's great to hear from you! Enjoy!

**Chapter 10: I want them all… **

She heard noises around her- people talking, machines beeping, all things she wasn't accustomed waking up to. Where was she? She heard someone call her name… Rory? That was enough to make her open her eyes. It was blurry, but she could see her daughter sitting next to her. Rory was holding her hand; her blue eyes filled with tears as she softly stroked her hand.

"Mommy?" she whispered, seeing her mother stir.

Lorelai blinked a few times, trying to clear away the blurriness. Rory hadn't used the word 'mommy' since she was ten, unless they were joking around or she'd asked Rory to do something that she obviously didn't want to do.

"Mom?" Rory got to her feet, her face lighting up. "Mom?"

A smile spread across her pale face. "Rory," she murmured softly. She barely registered the pain that shout through her shoulder as she tried to move it to touch her daughter's face, but something stopped her. Glancing down at her arm, she realized it was in a sling. "What…?" she started to question, momentarily confused.

"You were in a car accident, Lorelai."

Lorelai looked up at the familiar voice. "Mom?" She gaped. "What are you doing here?" Looking next to her, she found her dad, staring at her, his face expressionless. Luke was standing a few feet behind Rory; he had a smile on his face. The events of the night before were quickly coming back…

"What do you mean, what am I doing here?" Emily demanded. "I'm your mother and you were in a car accident. If Rory hadn't called me, I probably wouldn't have known about it until you came to dinner. _If_ you came to dinner."

Lorelai opened her mouth to protest, but Luke cut her off.

"It's good to see you awake," he said, trying to lighten the mood. "You had a lot of people worried. Sookie was calling me every five minutes."

Lorelai nodded slowly, imagining Sookie freaking out when she didn't arrive at work. She probably called everyone she knew, including Miss Patty who would take the news and spread stories. Who knows? Maybe by the time she got home, it would be all over Stars Hallow that evil greedy bandits kidnapped her… "I'm sorry," Lorelai apologized. "I uh, I should have called her."

"No, mom, it's okay," her daughter comforted, patting her 'good' shoulder gently. "Everyone understands."

Lorelai did her best to put on a brave face and a comforting smile for her daughter. Seeing Rory like that suddenly gave Lorelai strength she'd been lacking all night. "They were right about Paul Anka." She tried to keep her voice light, but she could feel the tears coming. "I shouldn't have taken him… he's dead now."

"I know," Rory said gently. "But it wasn't your fault, mom. Things like that happen- you can't blame yourself."

"Yes, Lorelai," her father agreed. "Pets die everyday, that doesn't make it anyone's fault."

"I know, but…" Lorelai trailed off with a fit of sneezes.

"Hey, look what grandma got you." Rory gestured to the gifts on the nightstand. "Squeeze the bear."

Lorelai reached over and tried to grab the animal with her outstretched hand; her fingertips barely touched it before she pulled her arm back with a slight moan as the movement jarred her shoulder. Embarrassed, she looked down at the blue sling that was cradling her arm. She hated that everyone saw her like this – in pain and weak.

"I'll get it," Luke volunteered, grabbing the gift and handing it to Lorelai, who promptly squeezed it. A smile spread over her face as the small bear talked. Holding it tightly to her chest, she turned to Emily.

"Thanks mom," she said sincerely. "It's really cute."

"I suppose." Emily shrugged. "If you were a six-year-old girl."

"Well, I'm a kid trapped in a woman's body, what can I say?" Lorelai placed the bear next to her and dropped her head back into the pillow and let out a little sigh.

"Lorelai?" Her father asked. "Are you in pain?"

"Um." Lorelai licked her dry lips. "Yeah, a little." She didn't mention her migraine or her shoulder slowly swelling up.

"I'll go see if I can find someone who can help with the pain," Emily excused herself.

"Mom, are you sure you're okay?" Rory asked, worried.

Lorelai opened her eyes; she hated when Rory worried about her. "Yeah, sweetie, thanks, I'm fine. I'm just… a little tired, that's all." When Rory's expression didn't change, she quickly added. "I'm fine, seriously."

"I know you are but…" She wiped away a stray tear. "The whole getting into an accident… it's scary.

Lorelai knew what she meant. After Rory had gotten in that crash with Jess many moons ago, she had been freaked out, not wanting her only daughter to get into a car for months, worrying something else would happen to her. And though she only had a broken arm, Lorelai remembered treating like she had a terminal illness.

"I know," she finally said. Grabbing a box of tissues, she blew her nose. "It's okay."

Rory nodded. "Yeah, I was just scared," she admitted. "Don't ever, ever do that to me again, okay?"

Lorelai smiled. "I promise."

"Here we are," Emily greeted, walking back into the room with a nurse trailing right behind. "Oh, dear, I forgot to grab the pillows."

Lorelai looked up, alarmed. She remembered how her mother acted when her father was in the hospital, and she was so not letting Emily do that to her. "Mom, it's okay, I don't need any new pillows. I'm fine just the way I am." She pounded the pillow beneath her, as if showing an example to how 'fine' they were.

Ignoring her daughter's words, Emily turned to the nurse behind her she asked: "I need two_ new_ pillows. I also need-"

"No, mom, serious, I'm fine. I don't need anything, please; just… stop it, okay?" Lorelai pleaded, her voice brusque. "I know you're just trying to help, but I'm fine. I don't need pillows."

Her mom stared at her, her face carefully controlled not to reveal her emotions but both Luke and Rory spotted the flash of hurt in her eyes. "All right," her mom said coldly, turning away from her daughter and fumbling with her purse. "We'll see you later today, Lorelai. Your father needs his sleep. And Rory, if you don't want to drive all the way back home, you can always come over to rest or clean up."

Rory nodded. "Thanks," she said quietly.

Lorelai sighed and looked at her mother, not really surprised by her mom's reaction, but clearly hurt. "Mom," she began awkwardly, "I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine, Lorelai," Emily interrupted. "Come on, Richard, let's go." She nodded to Luke and then left the room without another word.

Richard looked at his daughter, opened his mouth to say something, changed his mind, nodded to them all and followed his wife out of the room.

Lorelai swallowed hard, managing to hold back the threatening tears. Turning to face Rory, she saw her daughter staring after her grandparents, a surprised look on her face. Lorelai mentally sighed. Her parents had been acting, well, pretty well. Especially her mother. Though she knew it wouldn't last, she hoped they wouldn't fight like this – not in the hospital, not when she was in pain, and especially not in front of Rory and Luke.

"So…" Lorelai started awkwardly, as the nurse came over to her and handed her a cup with some Tylenol in it. "This is fun, huh?"

----

Luke opened his eyes and found himself on a chair, sitting next to Lorelai's bed. As he rubbed his eyes, he couldn't remember when he dozed off. Glancing at the clock hanging on the wall, he blinked as the large glowing numbers stared mockingly at him, informing him he hadn't had more than a few hours of sleep.

He looked over at Lorelai who was peacefully sleeping, her hand holding onto Rory's. As he glanced over to Rory, the first thought in his head was that she couldn't possibly be comfortable like that. She was asleep, still on the chair next to her mom, her body stretched over, allowing her head to rest on top of her arms, which got support from the bed. He had no doubt in his mind she was going to wake up with a backache.

Rubbing his face, he tried to wake himself up. He wasn't really sure why he'd stayed the whole time; no one asked him to stay, but he hadn't even thought of leaving. Glancing at the clock once more, he carefully stood up, trying not to awaken the sleeping Gilmore's.

Once in the hallway, he pulled out his cell phone and quickly dialed Caesars number and temporarily placed the diner in his care.

It was time to go shopping.

---

Luke stopped outside the gift shop, his eyes roving over the window displays. They froze on a four-story dollhouse; it reminded him a lot of the one Lorelai had when she had been growing up. What kind of hospital would be a selling a dollhouse in a small gift shop? People brought flowers, chocolates, balloon, but not dollhouses.

As he stepped into the shop, he absently noted he was the only customer there. Well, he mentally pointed out, who roamed gift shops in the early morn? Wandering up and down the isles filled with stuffed animals, his eyes quickly onto a small dog that reminded him of Paul Anka. Picking it up and feeling the soft fabric it was made of, he couldn't help but smile. Lorelai would love this, or rather, _would have_ loved it before she found her pet dead.

Setting the dog back down in its place, Luke moved over to the remaining animals, but he couldn't find anything that reminded him of Lorelai, except for the dog on the last aisle.

With a small sigh, he headed back over to the dog section; he picked up the stupid animal and carried it to the counter.

"Did you find everything okay?" A salesclerk asked Luke as she picked up the toy and rang it up.

"Yeah, I did, thank you."

The woman smiled. "Do you want to get a balloon so I can wrap it around it?" She asked.

"Um." Luke hesitated. "Yeah, sure." Glancing up at the wall, he froze at the sight of the several dozens different styles of balloons they had nowadays. "Wow," he said, clearing his throat. "You uh… certainly have a pretty large selection."

"Yes, we do." The saleswoman agreed.

"I um," Luke shook his head slightly, not taking his eyes off the balloons. "I don't really know which one to get."

"Okay, um, well, who's it for?"

"A friend," Luke said simply.

The lady smiled. "Okay, a friend… is it a girlfriend?"

"What?" Luke asked, alarmed. "No, no, she's just a friend… well, she used to be a girlfriend, then my fiancée, but, no, she's just a friend."

"Okay." The employee hesitated and glanced over the balloons. "Hmm… well, if she's a sweet thing and likes sweet kind of stuff, give her number seven, the one with the roses. But if she's more of a spirited girl, likes more… I don't know, 'modern' stuff, I think I would go with number twenty three, the smiling sunflower that says 'get off your ass'."

Luke stared at her, wide eyed. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. Or you could get her the plain smiling face that says 'get well soon'." She turned back to face Luke. "Or maybe the funny shaped animal heads."

Luke let out a long sigh. So many to choose from... An idea hit him. "You know what?" He said. "I want them all."

Now it was the lady's turn to stare. "All of them? Are you sure?" She looked back at the balloons. "Sir, there's at least forty different styles… are you sure you want all of them?"

Luke nodded. "Yeah, I want all of them." Pulling out his credit card, he handed it over.

Still surprised by his sudden decision, the woman took the card and ran it through her machine. "It'll take a little while to fill them all…"

"Okay, well, I'll just be… wondering around." As his balloons were 'heliumated', he moved over to the candy aisle, shocked at how many different candy bars they were selling. This was a hospital- shouldn't they try to sell things that were relatively healthy?

Five minutes later, he left the store with forty-nine balloons in his hands and a small stuffed animal squished in his back pocket. He got a lot of stares as he tried to squeeze down the long hallways with the large balloons before he finally reached Lorelai's room. Taking all the balloon strings into one hand, Luke opened the door, pulling the balloons along with him. A large pile of them got stuck in the door; quietly, he untangled them before heading over to Lorelai's side of the room.

He wasn't surprised to find both Gilmore girls asleep; after all, it wasn't even six am. Finding a spot in the corner of the room for most of the balloons, he scattered the few remaining ones around the room; a few next to the bed, a few on top of her nightstand, and the others he let just loose.

As he took his spot on the chair, he tried to get comfortable again, hoping he would fall asleep for a few more hours. Just as his eyes began to shut, he heard a voice.

"Hi," the nurse from the night before, Cassandra, said as she entered the room, taking in the sight of the sleeping woman. "I just need to check on a few things…"

Luke nodded, not bothering to say anything.

Cassandra squeezed past Rory without her waking up. She glanced over at the machines and gave a slight nod to herself. Reaching over, she shook Lorelai, who quickly woke up at the sudden touch. "Good morning," she said quietly, "I'm sorry for waking you up so early, but we have to check on the patients who have a concussion every few hours to make sure they're doing okay."

Lorelai blinked, obviously annoyed with the person who awoke her from her slumbers.

"Okay," the nurse said, backing out of the room. "You can go back to sleep. I'll check in on you in a few hours. If you need anything, just let me know."

The look on Lorelai's face was priceless. Though he wasn't that sort of guy, Luke would have given anything to have a camera. She stared after the woman as she left the room, with a 'how-could-you-wake-me-up-for-nothing' look. A few second later though, her eyes closed, and she was back into the dream world…

----

Thank you Morgann for editing this!

Please review!


	11. Forty Nine

A/N: Thank you everyone for reviewing!

**Chapter 11: Forty-nine… **

Rory Gilmore awoke to the smell of fresh coffee. Blinking her eyes rapidly at the bright light, she saw Luke holding a cup under her nose. Breathing in the aroma, she smiled and graciously accepted it. "Thank you so much," she whispered, taking a large gulp, hoping it would be enough to stay awake the rest of the day.

Turning to her sleeping mom, she was relieved to find most of her mother's color back in her face. Taking another sip of the steaming liquid, she glanced over at Luke who was settling back into his chair, before she jumped out of hers in surprise.

"Oh… my… God…" She whispered loudly, taking a look around the room, her mouth open. There she was, surrounded by more balloons then she had ever seen in her life. "Wha- where did these all come from?" She turned to Luke for an explanation.

Luke shrugged. "I couldn't decide which one to get her, so I got them all."

Rory's mouth still hung open as she lowered herself back into her chair. "There's gotta be hundreds of them…" She eyed the Hello Kitty and Butterfly balloons that were sticking out from under her mother's bed.

"Forty nine to be exact," Luke informed her. "Fifty with yours."

Rory shook her head in disbelief. "Wow, Luke… that was really sweet of you. But… you didn't have to get all of them. Mom would have liked any of them, even the Elmo one over there," she said, gesturing to the small red puppet hiding behind a large bunny.

Luke smiled. "I know," he said simply.

Rory sat there a moment before asking, "When did you have time to do all this?"

Luke shrugged again. "Sometime this morning- you and your mother were still sleeping. The coffee I just got though… I wasn't sure you had any classes you had to get to, so I thought I would wake you up just to be safe."

Rory turned away. "I'm not going to class today." She couldn't. There was no way she would leave her mother at a time like this – after all, her mother wouldn't leave her in their situations were reversed. As she pushed her bangs out of her face, she could feel Luke's eyes on her.

"Rory, I know you're worried about your mom, but you have to go to school-"

"No!" Rory protested loudly. Glancing over at her mother who began to stir, she lowered her voice and continued, "I'm not going to leave her alone. I can't do that to her. And besides, Paris has some of my classes- she can take notes for me and I can grab notes from someone for the other classes."

Luke opened his mouth to protest, but from the corner of his eye he saw Lorelai waking up.

As Lorelai opened her eyes, she was immediately greeted with what seemed like hundreds of balloons. "Oh my god…" She sneezed. "Where did…?" Her first thought was that maybe everyone in Stars Hallow had gotten her one, but Rory, seeing her face, quickly informed her,

"Luke got 'em all."

Lorelai looked over at the diner owner. "Why would you do that?"

"I don't know," he said sheepishly. "I guess I just wanted to get you something... but I didn't know which balloon to get, so I just got them all."

Lorelai's mouth hung open. "But… but there's like a hundred of them!" She gestured to all the colorful balloons.

"Forty-nine." Rory and Luke said simultaneously.

A smile swept over Lorelai's face. As she turned to Luke, she felt for the first time in months that there was a chance that things could change for them. Maybe there was a chance they could be friends once again, friends like they used to be. "Thank you," she said sincerely. "I love them."

Luke nodded, glad his gifts were appreciated. "You're welcome."

"Rory, help me sit up," she asked as she shifted her body uncomfortably. "This position is killing me."

"Mom, I don't think you should be moving," Rory started, alarmed, but when her mom shot her 'the' look, she glanced towards the door. "Maybe I should go get the doctor. After all, mom, you sprained your sternoclavicular… I don't think you should be moving it around, you could make it worse."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "My daughter, when will you ever learn to just agree with mommy?"

Rory shrugged innocently. "Maybe when you stop having the urge to do something stupid."

Lorelai gasped, pretending to feel hurt. "_Moi_? Your mother? The woman who went through incredible pain for hours and hours for you so you may join the world! This woman- the woman who raised you single handedly- do something stupid? I've never done anything stupid in my life!"

Rory looked questionably at her. "Yeah, you never do anything stupid," she sarcastically agreed. "Like the time you bought those pants from the mall and-"

"Okay, okay," Lorelai said, raising her hand for Rory to stop. "Even I will admit that I have done a few unwise things, but, come on, stupid?"

Rory grinned. "Fine, dumb, is that better?"

Lorelai nodded with a pleased smile across her face. "Okay, now, help me up."

Sighing, Rory looked over at Luke, her eyes pleading him to intervene, which he did.

"She's right, Lorelai. I don't think you should be moving that shoulder around."

"See!" Rory exclaimed, sticking her tongue out.

"Now that's mature." Lorelai rolled her eyes. "No, seriously, guys, I'm fine. I'm going to die if I have stay in this position the whole day… just help me up, please."

Rory shook her head. "Nope, no can do." Standing up, she took one last gulp of her coffee before throwing it into the trashcan. "I'm going to ask the doctor first, and then we'll see about moving around." And with those words she took off.

Lorelai turned to Luke, her face pleading, but as he shook his head, she put on a pouty face. "Meanie," she muttered.

"Do you want to get better or not?"

Lorelai scuffed. "Of course I want to get better," she insisted. "But I don't want to be uncomfortable the whole time."

Luke raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

Sneezing, Lorelai reached for the Kleenex Luke held out for her and blew her nose. She hated colds…

Rory entered the room a moment later with a doctor. "He was already coming to check up on you," she informed her mother as she raised her eyebrows curiously.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Schneider," the man said, fixing his glasses as he walked over to Lorelai's side. As he opened the folder in his hand, he quickly glanced over the pages before closing it with a satisfied nod. "Well, everything seems to be healing up pretty well."

"Good," Lorelai flashed him a smile. "Um, can you tell my two private nurses here that I am allowed to move around- it's not like I'm going out to play baseball or anything, I only want to sit up."

The doctor nodded. "That's fine- in fact, I recommend that to most of my patients. But, because of your concussion, I have to insist that you don't try moving around too much. If you do, you may start to feel nauseous."

Lorelai stuck her tongue out at her daughter. "Thank you, doctor."

Dr. Schneider smiled. "Okay, well, now, why don't you let me take a look at the bruising," he said, gesturing to her shoulder. "It'll probably remain swollen for a few days and the bruises… a few days after that. The tenderness should lessen in a few weeks, but it's going to be at least six to ten weeks before you can get back to normal activities like sports, or anything that involves using your arm."

Everyone in the room, the doctor excluded, managed to hold back a snicker at the thought of Lorelai playing a sport.

"And," the doctor continued, "You'll have to wear the sling for at least a month, possibly longer, depending on how quickly it heals up."

Lorelai nodded.

"Okay." The doctor smiled. "Let's take a look."

Luke looked away as the doctor began to examine Lorelai's shoulder and the midline of her chest where the swelling and tenderness was located. His attention fell upon the Strawberry Shortcake balloon that had fallen to the floor, almost completely deflated.

"Well, it looks better then I've seen, but-" The doctor started as Lorelai slipped her hospital gown back over her shoulder. "The swelling is worse then I would like. I'll send a nurse in later to put some medicine on it and hopefully it'll help it go down." He wrote a few notes in the folder. "Okay, uh, any questions? How's the pain?"

"Um," Lorelai started, looking down embarrassed. "The stuff the nurse gave me last night didn't help with the pain much… my headache's back and my shoulder feels like it's going to fall off…"

The doctor nodded understandingly. "Okay, well, I'll have the nurse get you something stronger." As he turned to leave, he eyed the balloons; a smile spread across his face. "You must have a lot of friends," he commented. "I've never seen one patient with so many balloons before."

Lorelai grinned childishly. "I know," she said, casting a glance at Luke.

"Well, take care."

As the doctor walked out of the room, Rory turned to her mother. "Why didn't you tell us you were still in pain? We could have asked the nurse to get you something stronger hours ago!"

"I know," Lorelai said carefully, picking at a loose thread on her blanket. "I just…"

When her mom didn't finish her sentence, Rory touched her hand. "You just what?"

"I didn't want to worry you," she admitted. "I didn't want you to think I was worse then I really am, because seriously, I'm fine."

"Mom…"

"I'm sorry," Lorelai added before her daughter could give her a lecture. "Next time I'm in pain, I'll tell you, okay?"

Rory nodded. "Good."

"Good." With a sigh, Lorelai glanced at her balloons. "So, Luke, why are there only forty nine?"

----

Lorelai talked her daughter into counting each and everyone one of the balloons Luke had bought her, wanting to make sure there were actually 'forty-nine' of them. When she found the dead Strawberry Shortcake one, she had playfully demanded someone take it back to the store for a new one, which Luke obliged.

When she eyed her fifty balloons- including the one her daughter had given her- that Rory had placed around her bed her eyes lit up like a child's in a candy store. She had also made Luke and Rory show her each balloon individually and decided the Hello Kitty who had its arms outstretched for a hug and read 'You need a hug' was her absolute favorite, so she moved it to her side.

"No, no, no!" Lorelai scowled, once she saw what her daughter was doing. "I told you a hundred times, Spongebob can't be next to Elmo! Elmo told Spongebob that his pants looked weird so Spongebob told Elmo he was only a stupid stuffed animal and now they're not speaking."

Rory rolled her eyes as she grabbed the balloon and moved it over to the roses. "There, are you happy now?"

Lorelai took a close look at Elmo's new home before nodding. "Yep."

"Good," Rory said. "Now, is the princess balloon still mad at her castle balloon for being purple instead of pink?"

"Nah, I guess she's forgiven it by now." Lorelai said. "Hey, I think we should move Blues Clues over to the smiley face, maybe it'd cheer him up and he wouldn't look so depressed."

Rory smiled. It was a change from the sad Lorelai of last night and right now, she was thankful for it. "Good idea."

Luke had been watching them for the past ten minutes, moving the balloons back and forth, trying to decide if the alien face should be so close to the teddy bears. It made him almost wish he didn't get the damn balloons in the first place. "Okay, that's it!" He jumped up and pulled the Blues Clues balloon out of Rory's hand. "This is ridiculous! Where do you even come up with all these… I don't even know what to call them! Elmo and Spongebob didn't have a fight, the daisies don't feel intimidated by the other flowers, and the kittens are not afraid of the stupid butterfly!"

"Cover Elmo's ears," Lorelai whispered to her daughter before turning to Luke. "Hey! You just hurt Cinderella's feelings!"

"It's a balloon!" He shouted.

Lorelai gasped, placing her hand over her chest as if she would have a heart attack. "Just a balloon? Now you've hurt all their feelings! I don't think the sun will stop crying for hours now. And I don't think Winnie the Pooh will ever forgive you…"

Luke shook his head in disbelief. He would have continued protesting that the balloons had no feelings when his cell phone rang, causing everyone to stop what they were doing and look at him. Reaching into his pocket, he answered it. "This is Luke… yeah… okay, no, no, it's um, it's fine… yeah… thank you… uh-huh… bye." Flipping the phone closed, he looked at Lorelai. "Um, that was uh, Caesar… Zack called in sick and he needs some help with the noon rush…"

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, of course," she said. "Go, go… Rory and I are just fine by ourselves, and my parents should be dropping by later."

Luke hesitated. "Are you sure?" He questioned.

"Yeah, of course," Lorelai said, trying to hide her disappointment. "You have a business to run; I've been selfish keeping you here this whole time…"

Shoving his hands into his pockets, he assured her, "No, it's all right, I don't mind…"

Did she detect a bit of hesitation in his voice? Did he want to stay? Or was that just her wanting him to stay? As Lorelai thought about it, she realized he probably didn't want to be here in the first place – why would he? After all, _she _was the one who had broken off their relationship; he had every reason to be mad at her. But, would he have stayed this long if he didn't want to? Was he only staying because he felt like he had to?

Lorelai sighed silently. As much as she didn't want him to go and as badly as she wanted to ask him to stay, she knew she couldn't. She'd already asked too much from him, and he had done everything without a single complaint. He was probably ready to get back to his life- not that she blamed him, she just hoped he hadn't stayed because he felt like he needed to, but because _he_ wanted to.

"Thank you, Luke," She whispered. "You've done… _so_ much." She gave him a small smile. "I really… just… thank you."

Luke nodded slowly, covering his disappointment that she hadn't requested his return. "All right…" he said slowly, glancing from Lorelai to Rory. "Um, I guess I'll uh…" Should he come back later? "Um…"

Rory seemed to catch on. "Hey, Luke, if you have time to come back, and you don't mind, could you bring me some chili fries? Maybe a cheeseburger?"

Luke smiled, grateful for Rory's offer. "No problem," he said. "So, I guess I'll see you later today… don't have too much fun with the balloons.

Lorelai was surprised by how glad she felt when he said he was coming back, but she quickly hid it in a grin. "I could always use some coffee…"

Luke scowled her. "You were in an accident, Lorelai. The last thing you need is coffee."

She sulked. "I knew you would say that."

"I'm sure you did…" After standing there awkwardly for a moment, he handed the balloon back to Rory. "Okay, well, goodbye."

"Goodbye!" The two Lorelai Gilmore girls called after him.

----

Once again I want to thank Morgann for editing this for me, you rock!

Please review!


	12. Decaf Coffee

A/N: I am so sorry I haven't updated sooner! I had meant to post this chapter FOREVER ago but as fate would have it, one of our computers crashed and I thought I lost all my chapters. But, thankfully my dad is the best ever and he managed to restore them all. It took awhile 'cause he had to do like a billion things, but the good news is I didn't lose anything! I backed up all my stories so if this ever happens again I won't loose anything. All right then, on with the story!

Thanks Morgann for editing this for me!

**Chapter 12: Decaf coffee… **

The hours seemed to drag by until it was closing time for the diner. Locking the door to ward off any last second customers, he quickly began to stack the chairs on top of the tables at record speed. Twenty minutes later, the entire diner was spotless. He grabbed the two bags of food off the counter and headed outside towards his truck, shivering slightly once the cold night hit him. He closed his truck door and sighed.

What was he doing?

He leaned back in his seat. Why was he going to see her? There was no point. He knew they would never get back together…

He shook his head. Lorelai was his friend. This is what friends did for each other. They were there when their friends need them.

He started his car.

Though it wasn't raining like the night before, and the roads weren't icy, it still took him longer then usual to reach the hospital.

After taking the elevator to the third floor, he hurried down the halls that were filled with a group of kids, probably visiting a sick friend. Once he reached Lorelai's room, he walked in. Passing the empty bed, he hurried over to the back half of the room, where his eyes immediately fell upon a sleeping Rory, lying on the bed next to her mother. For a moment, he thought Lorelai was asleep as well, but her eyes darted open as his shoes squeaked against the clean floor.

"Hi," he whispered, gesturing to the bag. "I uh, brought some food for Rory…"

Lorelai nodded. "Thank you," she whispered back. Glancing down at her daughter, she smiled. "She fell asleep about twenty minutes ago… poor kid." She ran her fingers through Rory's fine hair. "I think I was just about to join her…"

"Oh, go ahead," Luke said, dropping the bags down on an empty chair. "Don't let me stop you."

She shook her head. "No, it's probably better. I'll sleep better tonight if I'm actually tired." Casting a glance at the large bags, she sighed. "You better have something in there for me. I'm going to die if I have to keep eating this hospital crap. They brought me some 'supposed' macaroni and cheese… it tasted like chicken, which wouldn't have been all that bad, except for I'm pretty sure it wasn't chicken flavored cheese."

Luke grinned. "Well, I wasn't going to bring you anything, knowing that you can't jump up and attack me right now, but…" As he trailed off, he reached into one bag and pulled out a cup of coffee and handed it over.

Lorelai took a sip of the steaming liquid; her face turned into a look of disgust and mock betrayal. "I can't believe you!" She whispered loudly. "You gave me _decaf _coffee? You've known me for how long? You know I hate this stuff!"

Luke stared at her. "How can you possibly tell?" He demanded. "They taste the same!"

She scuffed. "They don't they don't taste remotely the same." She objected, placing the coffee cup on the nightstand beside her. "_Real _coffee tastes like a piece of heaven and that-"she pointed to the cup "-tastes like someone who tried to imitate it… and failed."

Luke sighed. "Well," he reluctantly began, handing her a bag, "I brought this just in case you did notice."

Grinning, Lorelai grabbed the bag and tossed it aside once she had her cup. "Thanks," she breathed after a long sip.

"Yeah, sure, no problem." He shoved his hands into his pockets. "Well… um, how are you doing?"

"Uh, okay, I guess," Lorelai started, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "Sookie came to visit; she brought Davey and Martha, but Martha wouldn't stop crying so they only stayed for a few minutes." Smiling, she added. "She brought me a few balloons from Miss Patty, Babette, Kirk, Michel and even Taylor. I have fifty-eight now."

Luke rolled his eyes.

"And my parents came again…"

Luke raised an eyebrow. "And… how did that go?"

Lorelai shrugged, looking down at the steaming coffee in her hands. "I don't know, okay I guess… I could tell they didn't want to be here, they just came because they felt the need to. My dad barely uttered a word, and the only thing my mother really said was that I needed a room of my own so I wouldn't be disturbed by the other patient that isn't actually there!"

"I'm sorry," Luke said sympathetically. He couldn't imagine parents like hers.

"It's okay, I'm fine… I've lived with them for so many years I'm used to it." She shrugged and took a huge gulp of coffee. "Ah, now, _this_ is coffee."

Luke smiled, wondering to a chair he sat down. "So, how do you feel? Are you still in pain?"

Lorelai looked down at her daughter who stirred slightly; obviously not wanting to wake her, she lowered her voice. "I'm in a little… it's not too bad though, the doctor came in again, and he said it would go away after a couple of weeks. So, I guess I'll get used to it by then."

"And your head?"

Lorelai bit her lip. "Um, the medicine didn't really help…" she said slowly. "It still feels like someone's hammering up there."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Lorelai said with a small laugh in her voice. "I just shouldn't go crashing into any trees and I'll be all right."

He smiled. "Good."

Lorelai watched Luke look around the room awkwardly, as if he wasn't sure what to do or say. Swallowing, she turned to her sleeping daughter. As she stroked her daughter's hair, she tried not to think about Luke, but it was hard, probably because he was sitting right next to her.

"She looks so peaceful when she's asleep." Luke commented, his attention now on Rory.

Lorelai nodded in agreement. "Yeah, she does."

_Kinda like you, _Luke thought.

Rory stirred as Lorelai moved her hand too close to her neck, tickling her. "Mom," she moaned sleepily. Opening her eyes she lifted up her head, her hair falling messily around her face. She glanced from Luke to her mom, both of them still staring. "What?" she asked innocently as she pushed her hair back behind her ears. "Do I have something on my face?"

Quickly shaking his head, Luke turned away, slightly embarrassed. "Oh!" He exclaimed; reaching into his bags, he pulled out a cup of lukewarm coffee and a take home box of chili fries. "Here you go." He handed them to her, which she quickly accepted.

"Thanks Luke." She said, immediately taking a drink. "You know, your coffee is the only coffee I can drink that's not steaming hot."

"Thanks… I think."

Lorelai grinned as she turned to her daughter. "Guess what, Rory."

"What?" Her daughter asked, not bothering to look up.

"Guess!"

Rory sighed as she opened her fries and shoved one into her mouth. "Um…" she started, getting back to her mom's guessing game. "You… I don't know. I give up."

"You can't give up when you didn't even guess!" Her mom scowled.

Rory rolled her eyes. "Fine, um, Luke popped a balloon because you tried to make it dance?"

"Now look who's sounding ridiculous?" Lorelai mocked. "Luke tried to switch my coffee for decaf."

"No way!" Rory cried in surprise, turning to Luke to confirm her mom's story. "You seriously thought she couldn't tell the difference? You've known us for how long? I'm surprised you even try. I mean she has _the nose_!"

Luke shrugged helplessly.

"Wow…" Rory shook her head as she shoved some more fries into her mouth. "Luke, I know she has a head injury… but, _decaf_?"

"Okay, okay, okay!" Luke surrendered. "I tried to give her decaf, you happy now?"

Rory nodded, yawning. "Yeah, I'm happy…" Taking another sip of her coffee, she commented, "I don't think this coffee is helping any… I feel more tired then before I had it."

"I think you're just tired, sweetheart," Lorelai said, patting her daughter's head. "You know what? Maybe you should take up your grandma's offer and go catch a few hours sleep over at their house."

"No, I'm okay." Rory insisted.

Lorelai shook her head. "You need to get sleep for tomorrow, 'cause you're gonna need it."

Rory stared at her, confused. "What… what's tomorrow? I know you're checking out, but why would I need sleep?"

"You have school tomorrow," was her mother's simple answer.

"No," Rory said, shaking her head. "No, mom, I'm going home with you. You're going to need someone there to run some errands and stuff. You probably don't even have food in the house. You need some help."

"Rory," Lorelai started, hiding a small smile of appreciation. "Sweetheart, you need to go to school. I'm going to be okay, I swear. I can walk down to Doose's if I need anything. I'm fine, I'm not an invalid."

"I'm not going to leave you alone!" Rory protested. "What if something happens?"

Lorelai rolled her eyes at her over-dramatic daughter. "Sookie will probably come over. And no doubt Babette and Miss Patty will bring something over…"

"Mom," Rory said carefully. "Not that Sookie, Babette and Miss Patty aren't reliable or anything, but if something _were_ to happen…" Seeing her mom about to object, she quickly added, "_If_ something were to happen, Sookie would freak out and probably wouldn't be much help. Babette would definitely freak out and couldn't help and Miss Patty… well, who knows what she would do?"

Lorelai scuffed. "Like what's going to happen that all three ladies would freak out?"

"I dunno," Rory shrugged. "Anything."

"Rory, seriously, I'll be fine…"

"And," Luke finally piped up. "If your mom needs anything, she can always call me."

Both Gilmore's turned to him, surprised by his sudden comment.

"What?" He asked innocently. Was he not supposed to offer his help? After this was all over, was he just supposed to go home and acted like this never happened? "Is there a problem with that?"

"No," Rory said. "I was just sur-… no, that would be fine- great… that would be great."

Lorelai remained quiet. As she studied her hands, she barely heard a word they said as Luke and Rory discussed what they were going to do, ways to contact each other. Luke had volunteered his offer to help out; she hadn't even hinted at it, had she? She had been so wound up in thought, that she hadn't even noticed her daughter and Luke stop talking; she didn't even feel the single tear that had slid down her cheek.

"Mom?" Rory's concerned voice called softly. "Mom, are you okay?"

Lorelai blinked and turned to the young woman. Quickly wiping the tear away, she smiled. "Sorry," she apologized quickly. "I'm fine." When Rory's expression didn't change, she reached over and touched her daughter's hand. "Honest, honey."

"Promise?"

"Yes," Lorelai said, rolling her eyes. "I promise; I'm just tired right now."

Rory nodded understandingly. "Why don't Luke and I go down to the cafeteria or something while you try and get some rest?"

Lorelai smiled. "Thank you."

Luke stood up, prepared to leave, but before he did he glanced over at her. "Are you sure you're okay? I can ask a doctor…"

"No," Lorelai objected sharply. Not looking at him, she continued, "Sorry, no, I'm fine, just tired."

Luke nodded slowly. "Okay," he said quietly; he turned and pushed his way past the forest of balloons as he followed Rory out of the room.

----

Lorelai rolled over to her 'good' side; a pillow was stuffed under her arm to help support the upper limb stuffed in the sling. Tears stained her eyes as she watched the rain hit her window. Rain, why didn't it ever stop? Sniffling, she absentmindedly wiped away her fallen tears.

She wasn't sure how long ago it had been since Rory and Luke had left her to sleep, or since the nurse had come in to check on her. But she was thankful for the silence, relieved she didn't have to pretend she was okay anymore – she wasn't. She was still hurting, both physically and mentally. She was hurting because of Paul Anka, she was hurting by the accident, but worse of all she was hurting because of Luke. She thought it would be so normal- so much _better_ to have him back into her life, but it wasn't. It was just a reminder- like he was shoving it into her face that she couldn't have him and that she didn't deserve him.

Closing her eyes, she settled on listening to the rain, wishing she could fall asleep with it comforting her, but she couldn't. Although she was exhausted, she couldn't sleep; her mind wouldn't allow her to.

Licking her dry lips, Lorelai let out a shaky breath. What was she going to do? What was she going to do about Paul Anka? What was she going to do about Rory? What was she going to do about Luke? Sighing, she squeezed a handful of her blanket, as if releasing her anger and hurt to it.

As she heard the door open, she buried her face further into her pillow, hoping whoever it was thought she was asleep and leave her alone. But when she heard two different footsteps, her hope quickly faded.

"Do you think she's asleep?" She heard Rory whisper.

The sound of someone getting tangled in the large area of balloon was heard, then a grunt and a curse word before the person, Luke, scrambled onto his feet. "I don't know if she is anymore," he whispered back.

Lorelai kept her eyes shut, wondering if they knew she wasn't really asleep. Right then she didn't really care; she didn't want to talk to anyone, and she didn't want anyone to be with her.

"Mom?" Rory whispered softly, leaning over her. Lorelai did her best not to squeeze her eyes as she felt her daughter's eyes upon her. "I think she's asleep."

"Good," Luke whispered. "She needs it."

"Yeah, I guess." Rory sighed as she pulled her head back. "I really wanted to make sure she was all right before I left…"

Feeling bad that she was pretending to be asleep while her daughter worried about her, Lorelai was tempted say something… _tempted_.

"Your mother is just fine, Rory," Luke promised. "Don't worry; I'll keep an eye on her. Okay? You should go home, get some rest and go to your classes tomorrow."

"I know, but…" Rory trailed off. "I just…"

"Rory, go."

"Okay, let me know if anything, I mean _anything _changes- I'll be here before you know it." Rory said, picking up her purse and jacket. "I don't think I'll be here when she checks out tomorrow… but she'll need a ride, so I guess I can skip-"

"Rory, I'll drive her home."

Lorelai winced slightingly. The thought of a long car ride home with Luke was already making her feel nauseous. When he had come to 'rescue' her after she had crashed, she had been so emotional she hadn't realized how uncomfortable it was. And during the whole hospital scenes, she had tried to make everything seem like it was okay, that nothing had happened, for that was only an act for Rory. She knew she wouldn't be able to be with Luke, alone, she would probably say something wrong and would regret later…

"Really?" Rory asked. "Thank you so much, Luke, for everything. You've done so much, for both of us. I know mom is really appreciative."

Since when did Rory start telling people what she thought? Yeah, sure, she appreciated what Luke did for her, but that did not mean that she wanted him to continue, because she didn't. She knew she would get used to it all over again, and when this was all over, she would be left alone and hurting once again.

"Oh…" Luke said bashfully. "It was nothing…"

"Luke, it wasn't just nothing," Rory insisted, slightly too loudly. Glancing over at her mother, she breathed a sigh in relief when she didn't awake. "I should get going… um, could you tell mom…?"

"Yeah, of course I will," Luke finished for her. "Go; go ahead, everything is going to be fine. I'll let her know you said goodbye."

"Well… okay," Rory said reluctantly. At the door, she glanced back. "Luke, if for some reason or another you can't stay, you-"

"Go."

"I'm goin', I'm goin'…" she muttered. "Bye." With that, she left the room.

Lorelai sighed silently as her daughter left. Why was Luke so good? That just made everything harder. Why couldn't he just gotten mad when she called like a normal guy? Why did he have to be so polite? Why did he have to be so nice to her daughter? Why did he have to be so nice to her?

Luke sighed; he carefully maneuvering around the balloons and over to the chair where he sat with a slight sigh.

Lorelai felt her cheeks grow red as Luke sat in front of her. Relieved that it was dark and he probably couldn't see her all that well, unless he had some kind of night vision, she tried to fall asleep. But knowing he was sitting there, just being… well, _Luke_, made her feel bad that she was avoiding him.

She bit her bottom lip, keeping herself from saying anything. If she did, he would know she'd been awake this whole time and would no doubt want to know why she'd faked it and she knew she wouldn't be able to explain it. Even if she did say something, he probably wouldn't leave anyway – he had promised Rory and Lorelai knew him well enough to know he wouldn't break it.

The minutes slowly passed of only hearing the sound of Luke's breathing and the rain splattering against the glass, she slowly opened her eyes and looked over at him. Luke appeared to be asleep on the hospital's uncomfortable chair. The smallest smile crossed her face, but as quickly as it came, it was gone. Staring at Luke, she watched him sleep. His head lay on the back of the seat, his legs thrown over the side of the chair, his arms crossed his chest. He didn't look very comfortable.

Feeling the guilt wash over her once again, she closed her eyes and absentmindedly let out a small sigh. She stopped breathing, trying to hear Luke sit up or whisper something, but he didn't – he was definitely asleep. _Poor guy_, Lorelai thought. He probably hadn't gotten any sleep since the minute Rory called him the previous morning. _Oh, Luke… _She shook her head slightly as she pulled the blanket over her. _How could I ever have let you go? _

----

Okay, I'm begging my sister on my knees to edit the other chapter tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be able to post it the day after.

Thanks for reading and please review!


	13. Awkward Moments

A/N: I'm really sorry about the shortness in this chapter, and for not updating sooner. Things have been really hectic with school starting again and I've had to work more hours this week. Anyway, I'll try and get the next chapter posted tomorrow, but that's only if I can convince my sister to edit...

Oh yeah, thanks Morgann for editing this!

**Chapter 13: Awkward moments...**

Paris entered their living room in a typical Paris way- in a frenetic hurry. "Rory!" She halted next to her friend who was gathering her books off the coffee table. "How's your mom?"

Rory Gilmore checked her cell phone. "She's okay," she replied, not bothering to remove her eyes from the small screen. "Um, she was in an accident with a tree, but the doctors say she'll make a full recovery."

"And accident?" Paris repeated her voice full of concern. "What type of accident exactly? What happened?"

Forcing her eyes away from the phone, she turned to her worried friend. "She's fine," she assured her before spilling the whole story. Paris's eyes widened as she mentioned the surgery her mother had gone through, but she seemed to get better once she knew everything turned out all right at the end.

"So, the diner guy is with her now, right?" Paris confirmed. "Why aren't you?"

Rory shrugged. "I wanted to be- I really did. But my mom and Luke were persistent… they told me to go back to school, that they could handle it on their own. Not in those words, but, you get the picture." Snapping close her phone, she sighed. "And Luke hasn't called me yet, I'm kinda worried."

"Didn't you tell him to call you if something happened?" Paris asked.

"Yeah…"

Paris shook her head. "Then isn't it a good thing then that he hasn't called you?"

Rory shrugged. "I guess so… I don't know; I'm just really worried about her. Nothing like this has ever happened, and when it does, they send me to school. I need to be with my mom, I need to help her," Rory said, starting to sound angry. "My mom would be there for me- no matter if she had work or anything. I could skip a few more classes"

"Rory," Paris said in the Paris tone which meant that she was, of course, was right. "You said so yourself that your mom is okay, right?"

"Yeah, but…"

"Well, she probably just wants to be alone," Paris said. "I mean, her pet just died, she got in an accident and is stuck in the hospital right now. She probably doesn't want anyone else there, because if someone else is there, she has to act like everything's okay when we all know, it's not. You should just let her wallow for awhile- she'll be fine."

Rory stared at her friend, dumbfounded. "How do you know all this?"

Shrugging, Paris stood up and dusted off her pants. "I took a class in psychology; I guess I picked up on a few things here and there. Now, get your bum off the couch and to class!"

Rory obediently grabbed her book bag and headed out the door…

----

Luke woke to the sound of metal crashing. Opening his eyes, it took him a good second before he realized where he was; at the hospital with Lorelai. Jumping to his feet, he glanced around the room for the source of the noise that had awoken him, but instead was greeted by a certain Lorelai Gilmore with a small grin plastered across her face.

"It was the kid next door," she said, gesturing to the curtain separating the two rooms. "She was transferred her last night, or this morning… sometime near midnight or after midnight. She had an ice skating accident; her boyfriend skated into her at full speed."

Luke stared at Lorelai wide-eyed. "Oh," he said simply. Glancing over at the clock, he turned back to her. "Did you get any sleep last night?"

Lorelai shrugged. "Why?"

"It's uh… only six. You're never up at six…" he said slowly. "And it doesn't look you got much sleep. Are you in pain? Want me to go get the doctor?"

Lorelai shook her head. "No, I'm okay." It was a lie; although her headache had settled down, her arm was still killing her.

"You sure?"

"Yeah," Lorelai insisted. "Luke, you didn't have to stay the whole night. I'm a big girl- I would have been all right."

"I know," Luke said with a shrug. "I just sorta promised Rory I'd make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine." Lorelai said, her tone sharper then she would have liked. Sighing, she tried to explain. "Luke, you don't have to be here for me. I understand. I know this isn't what you want to be doing right now- taking care of your ex-girlfriend because you made a promise to her daughter or because you feel like you have to. Don't worry about me, seriously, I'm fine."

"I know," Luke said, shoving his hands into his pockets bashfully. "I know you don't _need _my help, but I don't mind doing it."

Lorelai stared at him in surprise; did he really mean that? "Uh… okay."

"So… what time do you get discharged?"

"Noon." Lorelai replied.

"Noon, good, good, that's uh, that's quick." He rambled.

"Yeah, I guess." She shrugged. "Not to me really, I'm the one who's been stuck in the bed unable to move without help." She sucked in a breath.

Luke shoved his hands into his pockets. "Are you hungry?"

His ex-fiancée shook her head. "No, not really…"

Lorelai wasn't hungry? He rarely heard those words in the same sentence. "Okay."

There was a moment of silence before Lorelai asked, "Are you hungry? I know hospital food isn't the best, but-"

"No, I'm not hungry," Luke cut in. "I just wanted to see if you were."

"Oh."

Luke nodded slowly, trying to think of what else to say, but nothing came.

"This is kind of awkward, isn't it?" Lorelai finally asked.

"Yeah, a bit."

"So…" Luke started, but didn't finish.

"So," Lorelai mimicked. "Uh, how's the diner? Everything going okay?"

"Yeah, oh yeah, Caesar's keeping an eye on it while I'm gone, which he's kinda happy about, I guess he wants the extra money for some big… something, I don't remember what he said, but, yeah, it's going well," he knowingly rambled.

"Good," Lorelai said, smoothing out the wrinkles on her blanket. "That's good to hear."

"How's everything been going at the Inn lately?"

"Um, the last time I checked everything was going pretty well. We're booked solid for the next couple months- a couple weddings and retirement parties. So, yeah, things have been going well for me too."

"Good."

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah…"

"Well, um," Luke rubbed his hands together. "Maybe I will go get something to eat. You sure you don't need anything? I promise I won't give you a lecture about coffee…"

Smiling, Lorelai shook her head slightly. "No, I'm good, thanks."

"All right, be right back."

"Okay," Lorelai watched him disappear from the room. She let out a long breath. Why was it so weird for him to be here? Yeah, they'd broken up, but they were still friends, sorta. Rubbing her forehead, she sighed. "What am I _doing_?"

----

Please review!


	14. Bra Trouble

A/N: Thanks everyone for reviewing! And I wanna thank Morgann for being the coolest sister in the world and editing this for me!

**Chapter 14: Bra trouble… **

The doctor entered her room while Lorelai was in the middle of her favorite Andy Griffith episode- the one where little Opie Taylor thought he could get his way by throwing tantrums and holding his breath; of course, Andy wouldn't have anything to do with it. She noted the serious expression on his face and quickly turned off the television and looked at him.

"Good morning, Miss Gilmore," he said, checking her clipboard at the end of her bed.

"Please, call me Lorelai. Miss Gilmore sounds so ancient." She smiled. "And good morning to you too."

The doctor nodded. "Do you have anyone here with you?" He asked, glancing around the room.

Lorelai gave a slight nod. "Yeah, my friend; he just went down to the cafeteria."

"Do you mind if I take a look at your shoulder?"

"No." Lorelai shook her head, slipping her gown down slightly. "Not at all."

Dr. Schneider moved over to her, taking a quick look at the swelling and bruising surrounding the injured shoulder. "Well, it is definitely looking better then yesterday, but not good." He frowned slightly; seeing her worried face, he quickly added, "It's nothing that won't go away. I just thought the swelling would have gone down more then it has."

"But I can still leave today, right?" Lorelai asked, slipping her hospital gown back over her shoulder. She didn't know how she could handle being stuck in the hospital any longer then she already had.

"Yes," he quickly assured her, "I don't see any reason why you shouldn't be able to heal up at your own home instead of the hospital. But," he added, "you won't be able to go back to your regular activities right away. I don't want you moving that shoulder of yours for a couple of days at least. And you'll have to wear the sling for at least four weeks; we'll see if we can take it off any sooner after your next appointment which should be sometime next week."

"Next week," Lorelai repeated with a sigh. "And here I thought I wouldn't see this place for awhile."

The man grinned. "'Fraid you can't get rid of us that easily." He said, writing something down on his pad of paper. "Here's a prescription- if it doesn't help much, come back and I'll write you something a little stronger." He handed her the paper. "Okay, you should be all set to go. Just remember no lifting anything, not even a pillow with your right hand for at least a couple days, got it? You don't want to end up back in here, do you?"

Lorelai quickly shook her head. "No, I do not," she agreed. "But I can go to work, right? I mean, I run an inn, I wouldn't have to use this shoulder at all…"

"That should be fine. But I think it would be better if you waited a few days, just to let heal up." The doctor suggested. "A couple days of relaxing, letting someone take care of you- that's what I recommend. Too many people try to get back on their feet too soon, and they end up hurting themselves worse. I'd hate to see that happen to you."

"Yeah, me too." Lorelai gave him a warm smile. "Thank you, doctor."

He smiled back. "I guess I'll see you next week then." He walked over to the door. "Do you need a nurse to help you get dressed?"

"No, no," Lorelai said, a little too quickly. "No, thanks, I think I can manage it by myself." The thought of someone helping her dress sent shivers down her back; she wasn't disabled- she could dress herself.

Lorelai watched him leave before letting out a sigh. A few days of just sitting around doing nothing? How could she do that? She had an inn to run and she'd already been away for a few days. Michel could run it by himself, but that was asking much from him and also he tended to get even crankier when she wasn't around – if that was even possible.

Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, Lorelai sat there, catching her breath from such a small task. It made her feel even weaker then she thought she was. Glancing over at the bag of clothes Rory had sent over, she sighed. She didn't feel like moving- already the pain was back in her arm and she didn't want to irritate it further. But Luke would be here any minute, ready to take her home.

Lorelai groaned and slid herself carefully off the bed and onto the floor, almost surprised when she didn't get the dizzy feeling or the pain increasing. With a small smile of accomplishment, she grabbed the bag and walked slowly over to the bathroom.

If the thought of someone else changing her was disturbing, she was even more disturbed when she realized she couldn't snap her own bra strap. She was still in the bathroom, underwear and pants on- all that was left was her bra, which she couldn't snap, and the shirt, which she couldn't put on because she couldn't snap the bra. Sighing, she was surprised as she found herself regretting not taking Dr. Schneider's offer for a nurse. Even though it would have been embarrassing, it was more embarrassing standing in the bathroom with an unsnapped bra strap for over five minutes.

"Lorelai?"

The voice from outside the door; she immediately recognized Luke's voice. How long had he been waiting for her? She hadn't even heard him come in.

"Hi," she said somewhat nervously. "Um… how long have you been out there?" She looked over at the closed door and grimaced.

"A couple minutes," Luke replied. "Is everything okay in there?"

"Yeah," Lorelai said slowly, trying once again to snap it close with one hand. "Yeah, everything's great!"

"You sure? You've been in there for a while…"

Lorelai rolled her eyes at his words- like she didn't know that. "Seriously, I'm fine." She insisted, her words sharper then she would have liked. When there wasn't a reply, she sucked in a shaky breath and let it out slowly. "I'm sorry, Luke…" She sat down on the toilet; her legs weren't used to her standing yet. "I uh, I kinda have a problem here…"

"What's wrong?"

His voice sounded worried; she didn't want him to worry.

"Nothing, well, not nothing, but nothing seriously wrong. I just…" She felt her face growing hot as she muttered her next words quietly. "I can't snap my bra."

"Sorry," Luke apologized. "What did you say?"

If it was embarrassing to say it the first time, it was even more so when she had to repeat it louder. "I can't snap my bra."

"Um, I uh, I…" Luke stuttered, not sure how to respond. "Want me to go get a nurse?"

Lorelai bit her lip. She really did not want a complete stranger snapping her bra for her. Not only would she feel like lame for not being able to do something as simple as snapping a bra, she really wanted to prove to everyone she could manage on her own, which she was slowly realizing, she couldn't.

"No," she finally answered Luke's question. "I don't want a nurse… um…" she couldn't believe the thought that popped into her head, but what shocked her most was that she actually said it. "Luke, would you, um, would you snap it?"

How weird would that be? Yeah, sure, Luke had seen her completely naked before, but that was also when they were together. Now that they were broken up, it would be weird… wrong, not to mention completely awkward. She didn't really want Luke to get a shot over her bare back, but it seemed as though she had no choice, except for the nurse of course.

"Uh…"

Lorelai could hear the uncertainty in his voice, and at once regretted asking it. There was no way she wanted Luke to see her helpless. Better to just have a nurse come do it. After all, they had seen it all before. "I'm sorry," she quickly apologized. "I didn't even… the words flew out of my mouth before I even realized what I was saying. I'm sorry."

"No, uh, it um… I… I was just surprised." He cleared his throat. "I guess I could… help you…"

Though she didn't really want him to, she was secretly glad he didn't refuse. "Well, the door's unlocked…"

"Okay…"

There was a pause.

"I can't really open the door; my only free hand is keeping the bra somewhat closed," Lorelai said.

"Oh, right." From the other side of the door Luke could feel himself sweating; he wasn't sure why- he'd seen her without a bra, had both snapped and unsnapped it before… but that was _before_… Taking a long breath, he reached for the handle, and pushed the door open.

Lorelai glanced over her shoulder as Luke walked into the room. Her cheeks turned a nice shade of pink and she gave him an apologetic smile. "I'm really sorry about this," she whispered.

He nodded. As he moved closer to help, he carefully kept his eyes focused on the strap, nothing else.

As his fingers touched her cold, bare back, a shiver went up her spine. As she let go of the bra, letting Luke snap it for her, she grimaced again. This is so not how she thought the day would start out. It would be awkward enough just the two of then driving back to Stars Hallow, and now this? How much more was she going to make this man go through?

"All done," Luke informed her as he glanced away. "Um, I'll be… in the room."

Lorelai picked up her shirt and watched Luke shut the door behind him. Letting out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding, she said after him, "Thanks!"

The t-shirt hadn't been so easy putting on by herself either; it involved moving her shoulders, and barely holding back a cry of pain. But after a few minutes of slowly inching her arm into the shirt, she smiled at herself in the mirror. She had done it, all by herself, except for the bra-strapping bit, of course.

As she walked back into the bedroom, she stopped, watching Luke try to collect all the balloons and put them in trash bags. "What are you doing with my balloons?" She demanded, snatching the Clifford the Big Red Dog from him. "You're not throwing them away, are you? Why would you do that? They're mine! You gave them to me! You can't just throw them away!"

"Hey, hey," Luke said, holding one hand up in surrender, he probably would have raised the other if it didn't hold a large black trash bag. "I wasn't going to throw them away. I'm just putting them in bags so it'll be easier to take them home. They all won't fit inside the truck, so I was thinking about putting a rock in the bag and throwing them in the back of the truck."

"Oh…" Lorelai handed Clifford back, slightly embarrassed. "Sorry." She gathered up her few stuffed animals and various other items she could hold in her one 'good' hand. "Is your truck outside?"

Nodding, Luke gathered up as many of the large bags as his hands would allow him to carry. "Yeah, my truck's out front." Glancing up at Lorelai, he asked, "Are you okay to walk? Because normally they like to wheel their patients out, I could go-"

"No!" Lorelai exclaimed. "No, I wouldn't be caught dead in one of those."

Luke shrugged. "Okay," he said, moving over to the door. "Come on."

"I'm comin'," she said as he followed him out of the room. Either the bags in Luke's hands slowed him down or he was purposely making her walk slower then her normal pace. "Luke, did you suddenly grow a bad leg or something? Speed it up mister, it's not my leg that's hurting."

"Lorelai, it's not a good idea for you to be rushing out of here. You were in an accident- you had a _concussion_."

"Thanks for the info," she said, rolling her eyes as she moved into the elevator. "'Cause the pain and gash in my head didn't give anything away."

"I'm just saying-"

"I know what you're saying and I'm saying you don't have to worry about me. The doctor said I was fine; he said I could walk, run, jump, and do anything that didn't involve my arm. And for your information, walking doesn't involve this arm."

"That's not exactly what the doctor told me," Luke said, eyeing Lorelai sternly.

Lorelai scuffed. "I can't believe him!" She muttered, outraged. "He told I wasn't supposed to do any of those things? Isn't there such a thing as doctor patient confidentially anymore?!"

"Not when he has a feeling you won't listen." Luke said, with a serious look on his face. "What would you be doing if he hadn't told me? Running across town only to wind up in the hospital a few hours later?"

"I wouldn't have done that!" Lorelai objected.

Luke rolled his eyes. "Come on, Lorelai. Admit it; you never would have listened to the man."

Lorelai's mouth opened to speak, but she quickly shut it, knowing he was right. "_Well_…" she said in a Samantha-the-witch sort of way. "I might have gone to the Inn… but only to check on it! I wouldn't have done anything to use my arm! It hurts too much!"

The elevator 'dinged,' letting them know they had arrived on the ground floor. Deciding not to argue with the woman anymore, he stepped onto the floor, heading towards the door.

As Lorelai stepped outside, she immediately raised her arm, blocking the bright rays from the sun. The rain was obviously gone, and left the hot sun in its place. "God! I think my headache's back," she moaned, following Luke over to his parking spot. "I hate the sun."

Luke shook his head, but didn't say anything. After putting the balloons in the back of his truck, safely secured with a rock in the bags, he opened the passenger door for Lorelai, who he carefully helped in. "There's still some more balloons in the room," he said suddenly. "You sure you wanna take them all?"

Lorelai nodded. "Yep."

Rolling his eyes, Luke shut the door. "I'll be right back." He disappeared into the hospital once again.

Lorelai let out a long sigh. A trip home with Luke, what would that bring?

----

Please review!


	15. Always Means Always

A/N: Thank you all for the reviews! And thanks Morgann for editing this!

**Chapter 15: Always means _always_… **

Only five minutes into the car ride and already Luke was feeling extremely uncomfortable. He'd already offered to turn the radio on, anything to make the car ride seem less awkward, but Lorelai turned everything down with the shake of her head. As he stared straight ahead, he couldn't help but take his eyes off the road and glance over at Lorelai every so often – she hadn't moved since they left the hospital, merely stared out the window. He couldn't tell if she was crying- she wasn't making any noises and her shoulders weren't shaking, but yet he thought she was occasionally brushing tears away.

Making himself focus back on the road, he swallowed hard. Maybe it hadn't been the best idea offering to take Lorelai home. He knew it would be awkward with everything that happened, especially without Rory present to soothe things over, but he thought they could try and talk about what happened, but he was unable to bring the subject up, and she didn't seem like she would pipe up any time soon either.

As another couple minutes passed, he felt himself losing it. The silence, the awkwardness of the car was suffocating him. He needed to do something- _now_. "Are you hungry?" He asked, saying the first thing that popped into his head. "You didn't eat breakfast and it's about lunchtime…"

Lorelai shook her head, saying nothing.

Sighing, Luke glanced over at her once again. "Lorelai, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." Her voice cracked, telling him it was a blatant lie. "I just don't really feel like talking."

"I know you don't want to talk about it, Lorelai," Luke said quietly, "But, you probably should, you know, get it out."

She said nothing.

As the silence crept around them once again, Luke let out a long breath. "Hey, do you want any twizzlers?" He inquired, spotting the wrapped candy on the windshield from the corner of his eyes.

"Seriously, Luke. I don't want to talk," she snapped. "Please, just leave me alone."

Luke didn't understand her behavior; before the car ride, Lorelai had seemed almost back to her normal self. What had changed so rapidly? Had he said anything he shouldn't have? As he searched his mind for answers, he heard her sniffle; this time he was sure. She was crying. About what, he wasn't sure; it could be the loss of her pet, her crushed jeep or even the pain she was in- he didn't feel the need to ask. He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a small package of Kleenex he'd bought at the gift shop, thinking it might come in handy.

"Here," he said gently, passing the package over.

It took Lorelai a moment before she finally wiped her tears away and turned to him; she stared at the Kleenex dangling in front of her, her vision blurred by the unshed tears. After a bit, she took it from him. "Thanks," she muttered.

"No problem." He took the opportunity to look at her face. Her eyes were puffy, her nose was red, her eyes… sad. "You sure you don't want to talk about it?"

Lorelai shook her head. As she opened the package, she pulled out a tissue and quickly blew her nose. "No," she said tersely. Glancing back out the widow at the speeding cars, she added, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Luke assured her. "You'll talk when you're ready, there's no need to rush it."

She nodded silently.

His phone rang. Reaching into his pocket, he quickly answered it. "Hello?"

Glancing over at him, Lorelai saw him look a bit uncomfortable. Guessing it was probably Rory checking up on them, she turned and looked back at the passing cars.

"Yeah, we're on the road…" Luke lowered his voice, not that it did much good; he knew Lorelai could hear him perfectly. "Yeah… um, she's okay… uh-huh… no I'm not speeding… no, not really… no… um, I don't think-… okay… I'm not sure-… okay… then I guess I'll see you later… yeah, bye." Pocketing the phone, he glanced over at the Gilmore. "That was, um, that was Sookie. She was just making sure we're doing okay."

Lorelai gave a slight nod.

"Um…" Luke started uncomfortably. "I don't know if I should be telling you this, but I think you should have a warning. I guess Miss Patty and Babette planned a 'welcome home' party. Sookie said it should be small, but with Babette and Patty, it never is."

When she didn't say anything, Luke cast a quick glance at her. He knew at the hospital she had put on her brave face for her daughter and that if it had just been him or anyone else, she would have ignored them completely, sort of like she was doing now. Although Rory was a grown woman, he knew Lorelai still, subconsciously, thought of her as a young teen and that she had to play the strong single mom she always had been.

There was a long moment of silence before Lorelai slowly spoke up. "I'm not ready to see anyone."

Luke was surprised by her words. Although he too felt it was too soon for her to be surrounded by people trying to make her feel better, he never thought she would admit it. Having a concerned daughter and annoying friends taking care of her was more then enough excitement for now. She shouldn't have to see the people if she didn't want to. If she wasn't ready for everything, the town would have to understand.

"Um, I could call Sookie; have her stop the party…" He suggested.

Lorelai let out a long sigh. "No," she finally said. "I probably should go… they're worried about me…"

"Yes, they are," Luke agreed. "I'm worried about you."

Lorelai looked at him. "I don't see why," she said. "I'm fine, the doctor said my arm is going to heal nicely. I don't have a concussion anymore, I'm okay."

"I'm not just taking about your injuries," Luke said, not taking his eyes off the road. "I'm talking about you, Lorelai. I'm worried about you. You've been through a lot the past couple days, your dog died, you got into a car accident… Patty told me about you and Christopher and the divorce… I'm sure that must be hard on you."

Lorelai shrugged. "I can manage."

"I'm not used to seeing you like this. I guess what I'm trying to say is," He looked over at her watery eyes. "I'm here for you, if you need anything. It doesn't matter what time, I'll always be around."

Lorelai looked down. "I know…" Sniffing, she wiped away the remainder of her tears. "And I really appreciate it, really."

Smiling, Luke turned back to the road; it probably wouldn't be the best idea if he got into an accident right now. "Good."

Lorelai settled back into her seat, the car ride seeming less awkward then before…

----

As Luke pulled his truck into the Gilmore driveway, he immediately pressed on the brakes causing the car to stop abruptly. He barely heard Lorelai's cry as she slammed into the door at the sudden movement, or lack of. "What the hell…?" he muttered, staring out the windshield.

Lorelai held her shoulder closely before looking up. At once she understood Luke's reaction. Outside her house was one of the biggest signs she had ever seen before and _that_ was saying something for the town of Stars Hallow. It was written with capital red letters and read 'WELCOME HOME LORELAI!'. It literally covered from one side of her house to the next and even had some left over. And under it stood several dozen people waving, cheering, balloons and stuffed animals in their hands. Though normally she would have been thrilled about the gathering as it was on her behalf, but right then the thought of everyone being so happy made her feel even worse.

"Sookie said there'd only be a few people," Luke muttered angrily, seeming almost as upset as she was. "I'm gonna kill them…"

Swallowing, Lorelai turned to him. "It's okay, really. It's not so bad." She gave him a small smile before opening the door and stepping out. Her legs felt a little wobbly, but not as bad as before. She didn't even have a chance to breathe before Sookie, Miss Patty and Babette ran towards her, looking as giddy as could be. Putting on a warm smile, she greeted them. "Hey guys! I've missed you!"

"We really missed you too, honey. You had us all worried sick!" Sookie exclaimed, ready to give her friend a hug then eyed the sling and decided against it.

"Yeah, we've missed ya doll," Babette said in her husky voice. "We were all worried about ya. As soon as we heard what happened, Patty came up with the welcome home party. Pretty cool, huh?"

"Yeah, pretty cool." Lorelai repeated through clenched teeth, hoping they would mistake it as a smile.

"It was nothing _really_," Patty said bashfully.

By then, Luke had walked around the front of the car and moved past Sookie. He looked pointedly at the chef before asking Lorelai, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm great," she said, not even bothering to put in the effort of covering her lie. She was so far from great; her head was pounding with the sudden noises of the people cheering as they welcomed her home and her arm was in pain from the sudden stop Luke had preformed. She wanted to go to bed and sleep forever. But at this time, it really wasn't much of an option. Her friends had taken the time to throw her a party; the least she could do was attend for a few minutes.

"You sure?" Luke asked, obviously not convinced.

"Yeah," she nodded, unable to look him in the eye. "Yeah, I'm sure. Don't worry about me."

Luke opened his mouth to say something, but she decided that moment to turn around and mingle with the crowd. Shaking his head, he grabbed the balloons from the back of the truck and stopped by her on the way to the house.

"I'll unload your stuff and put it inside, is that okay?"

"Sounds great." She responded as Babette pushed her towards some fellow townspeople.

"I bought this for you," Kirk said, holding up a porcelain doll that was wearing a nurse's old fashion uniform complete with hat. "I thought since you don't have a real nurse to take care of you, this could help."

Lorelai slowly took the doll from the man and stared at it.

"Thank you, Kirk. That was very… thoughtful," she flashed him a small smile. Turning, she immediately bumped into Taylor.

"Lorelai!" He exclaimed, in his usual annoying voice. "It's good to see you. While you were gone, we all had a town meeting about car safety issues… I'll think we'll have it again next time too. We don't want someone to have another accident, do we?"

Lorelai wanted to wipe that smug look off his face, but instead smiled sweetly. "Right."

"Lorelai, Lorelai!" Sookie called, saving her from having to talk to any other crazy townies. "Come here!"

Lorelai quickly obliged. "Thank God, Sookie, I love your timing." As she stared at her friend's mischievous grin, she knew something was up. "Sookie… what's going on?"

"You and Luke!" Sookie cried happily, before tuning down her voice. "God, I'm so happy for you!"

"What are you talking about?" Lorelai demanded.

Sookie scuffed. "You don't have to pretend, sweetheart- I saw the way he looked at you. It's just so cool! You and Luke are talking again, maybe… well… maybe something else will happen to."

"Sookie!" Lorelai shouted; the pressure to remain sweet and polite suddenly was gone and she no longer cared who heard her. "I am not in the mood for this! I just got out of the hospital and all I want is some peace and quiet! And I come home to… this!" She gestured all around her, tears breaking free. "I can't handle this right now! I can't handle anything right now! Just… leave me alone!" Without another word, she stormed off into the house, leaving one very confused Sookie and half of the town outside…

----

Luke had let loose all the balloons around the living room and placed the rest of the gift items on top the growing pile on the coffee table. She could always move them elsewhere when she felt like better. Stuffing the empty trash bags into his back pocket, he was heading outside when the door suddenly flung open and a sobbing Lorelai ran into him.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" He asked, beginning to pull the woman into a full embrace when she suddenly pushed past him, racing up the stairs without a word.

He stood there a moment. Speechless, not sure what exactly happened. As he turned and looked outside, he found hundreds of eyes on him, just staring at him.

"What?" He shouted angrily.

Miss Patty was the first to move; glancing around at her, she sighed. "Well, I guess that's our answer to how she's doing…"

Sookie's mouth hung open. Hurt and confusion filled her face. "I… I think she wants to be alone…" she managed to say. "We should probably, um, leave and give her some time."

Silently, everyone began flee the yard, taking home some cake or other fancy dessert Sookie had prepared for this occasion and leaving their gifts on the table.

Luke stood there, stunned for a good minute before he reached over and closed the door. Glancing up the stairs, he hesitated. He knew she wanted to be alone, but should he make sure she was okay? With a soft sigh, he climbed up the stairs to her room, pausing in front of her door - he knocked. When there wasn't a reply, he opened the door.

"Lorelai?"

There, on the bed, lay Lorelai, her shoulders shaking as violent sobs escaped her. As soon as she heard his voice, he could tell she tried to stop, but failed. It hurt to see her this way.

"Lorelai," he called again. Moving over to her bed, he realized she couldn't possibly be comfortable lying on the injured shoulder. "Hey." He sat on the bed next to her. "Are you okay?"

"No," Lorelai sobbed, her words muffled as she buried her face into her pillow. "No, I'm not okay. Did you hear what I said out there?"

"Hey." Luke reached out and touched her 'good' shoulder. "They know you didn't mean anything you may have said. They know you're going through a tough time right now- they'll understand."

"That's just it," Lorelai cried. "I meant every word I said! I'm a horrible person!"

"No, no you're not, Lorelai. You're a good person who's going through an extremely tough time right now." He hesitated a moment before continuing, "Everyone will understand, trust me. Everyone in this whole crazy town loves you, they'll-"

"It doesn't matter!" She shouted through a sob. "It doesn't give me the right to treat people like this!"

Luke mentally sighed. He wanted to form the right words, but couldn't- nothing came to mind.

Lorelai rolled onto her left side to face him. "I don't know what to do, Luke," she said, her cries mellowing down slightly. Wiping her hand over her face, she dried her tears. "This is just… so hard. I don't know how to face them again. I don't know what to do!"

"They'll understand," he insisted. "They don't care what you said; they care about you, Lorelai."

Lorelai shook her head. Glancing away from him, she said in a shaky breath: "I'm not just talking about what I said. I mean, how am I supposed to face them? They all told me I shouldn't have gotten the dog, but I did anyway, and now… he's… he's… dead! I killed him!"

"Is that what you think?" Luke asked, his voice full of compassion. "Lorelai, no one is going to rub it in your face. Nobody is going to say they told you so. Trust me. They all know you took care of that dog better then anyone could have. You did everything right. Paul Anka did not die because of something you did or didn't do."

"You don't know that!" She sobbed, tears spilling forth once again.

"I do!" Luke shouted. "You had nothing to do with his death, I know it."

Lorelai shook her head, unconvinced. "That's not what they're going to think," she whispered. "Even if they don't say it, they'll know I murdered that dog. It'll be written all over their faces. They'll never let me within a ten-foot radius of an animal again. And you know what? I don't blame them!"

"Lorelai you know that's not true," Luke said, wiping away her tears with his thumb. "You're just blaming yourself, but it's not your fault."

Lorelai sniffed, but didn't say anything. Closing her eyes, she let out a shaking breath. "I miss him," she whispered. "I know it's stupid, but… he was like… I dunno, my best friend. After what happened with… you and me and the divorce with Christopher… Rory couldn't always be here, but… Paul Anka was. I know this sounds silly but… I could have sworn he understood me sometimes."

Luke smiled slightly. "I'm sure he did."

Opening her eyes, Lorelai looked up at Luke for the first time since he walked into the room.

"What would I ever do without you, Luke?" Her voice cracked as she spoke.

With a deep sigh, he brushed her hair back. "Don't worry," he said with a comforting voice. "You won't ever have to find out."

Lorelai stared at him for a good minute, before reaching for his hand on her face. "Thank you… Luke."

Raising an eyebrow he asked, "For what?"

"For being you," she replied quietly. "For being the man that you are. You're really, really a good man. I mean, I hurt you, I know I did, and I'm really, really sorry for that. And yet, you came and helped me. This must be so hard for you. And I'm… I don't know. I'm just…"

Sensing the tears return, Luke quickly said, "I promised you I would always be here, didn't I?"

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, you did." She said, remembering back to the day he'd told her that. "But… I didn't know always meant _always_."

"It does."

Looking down at their still entwined hands, she gave them a little squeeze and a smile. "Thank you."

----

La, la, la…

So, now that you read this, you're gonna review… right?


	16. Surrounded By Dirty Dishes

A/N: Thank you all for reviewing, you guys rock! I got more reviews for my last chapter then I have for the entire story!

**Chapter 16: Surrounded by dirty dishes… **

Luke had stayed with her until she slowly had drifted off to sleep an hour later. Slipping from the room, he headed downstairs, looking around for something to do. Moving into the kitchen, he stopped in front of the bathroom; he was relived to see no dead dog's body. He'd asked Sookie to call the Animal Control to get rid of the body while Lorelai was still in the hospital. He didn't think it would be a good idea for her to come home and find the animal still in her house.

Luke found himself in the kitchen ten minutes, washing dishes of all things. He couldn't believe how long Lorelai had been hiding dirty dishes all over the place. In the oven, under the sink, in certain cabinets, they were everywhere but where they were supposed to be. She had no clean dishes left. From the looks of it, he'd guess she'd been using one cup over and over, as it was the only cup in sight.

Sighing as he found several more grimy plates on top of the fridge; he gently placed them in the sink of soapy water with the rest of them.

This wasn't like Lorelai – hiding dishes. He always thought she didn't mind doing them- when had that changed?

He heard the phone ring and quickly dried his hands; he managed to reach the phone before it could ring a third time. "Hello?" He answered, slightly out of breath.

"_Luke_?"

Luke dropped the towel on the counter as he walked back into the kitchen. "Hey Rory," he greeted. "Is everything okay?"

"_I was going to ask you that._"

"Everything is going okay." Luke replied. "Your mom's upstairs, resting at the moment…"

"_Sookie called me,_" Rory said seriously. "_She told me what happened, with mom… Luke, would you have ever told me? I asked you to tell me if anything_, anything_ happened! You didn't let me know my mom almost snapped Sookie's head off? Sookie. As in her best friend. What's wrong with her? What happened? Did you guys get into a fight? I knew this wasn't a good idea… I knew I should have stayed with her._"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Luke protested. "Calm down. Your mom did freak out, but it wasn't serious. The town was throwing her a party and she couldn't handle it. That's all. She's not ready to see everyone yet. And the reason I didn't tell you was because I didn't think your mom would want you to know."

"_Luke!_" Rory complained loudly. "_I don't care if you don't think my mom would want me to know, I need to know! She's my mom! I have a right to know that she totally freaked out! What did you do?_"

Luke stared at the phone in his hand, shocked. "What did I do?" He repeated, his voice growing louder as he spoke. "I didn't do anything! Why would you think that? I just finally got her to calm down enough so she could sleep. I didn't push her into talking when I knew she needed to talk. I've done everything right! I didn't do anything wrong!"

There was a short pause before Rory spoke again. "_I'm sorry, Luke,_" she apologized. "_I don't know why… when Sookie called me I just… I'm sorry; I shouldn't have assumed it was you. I know you're doing everything you can for us, and I'm really grateful._"

Hearing Rory's sad voice made Luke feel bad about yelling at the poor kid. She was just worried about her mom. If he were in her shoes, he would have assumed he'd done something too.

"It's okay, Rory. I understand." He sighed. "Your mom's fine. She just wasn't ready for everyone, that's all."

"_Okay…_" Her voice didn't sound convinced, but she didn't push further. "_I'm leaving soon, so I should be home in about an hour._"

"What?" Luke asked in surprise. "No, you have school. Seriously, Rory, this was nothing. Your mom wouldn't want you coming home for nothing when you're at college."

Rory gave a slight chuckle. "_Luke, classes are over for today. I'll come home, stay a few hours, and then go back to Yale. It's okay; I've done it many times. I think it'd be better if I was home, you know? Just in case… and that way, you could go back to the diner. I'm sure I can find someone to stay and watch her, just in case she needs anything._"

Luke scratched his head. "Um, I don't mind staying…" he said slowly.

"_That's really kind of you to offer, Luke. But, I couldn't ask you to stay the night. That's asking too much, even for me._"

"You don't have to ask," Luke insisted. "Seriously, I don't mind staying. The diner's kinda slow anyways- Caesar and Zack can manage just fine."

"_… I thought Zack was sick?_"

"He was. He's fine now."

"_Oh. Okay. Thank you, Luke. You know… you're pretty awesome._"

"Thanks, I think." Luke adjusted the phone. "Okay, well, then I guess I'll see you later. Bye Rory." With a sigh, Luke sat the phone down on the kitchen table and began finishing the dishes.

----

_CRASH! _

Lorelai's eyes flew open at the sudden sound of metal crashing. Glancing around the room, it took her a split second to realize she was no longer in the hospital. She was home.

As she slowly sat up, she was relieved her headache was gone; too bad the pain in her shoulder hadn't done the same.

Swinging her feet over edge of the bed, she rubbed her eyes and stood up. Taking a quick glanced at herself in the mirror, she gasped in shock. She hadn't realized how awful she looked. Without her makeup and a good hair brushing in days, she looked horrible- scary even. It was almost surprising that nobody had run away at the sight of her. As she ran her fingers through her dark curly hair, she stopped as soon as she felt dry blood. _Eww! _How disgusting was that? She needed a shower, bad.

The doctor told her she couldn't get the stitches on her forehead wet, how would she manage a real shower without getting her stitches wet? Groaning and suddenly feeling self-conscious, she opened her bedroom door, making a few steps down the stairs when she heard two hushed voices, arguing. Over what she couldn't tell, but it was clearly an argument.

"Rory?" She called out; positive she'd heard her daughter's voice. "Rory, is that you?"

Grabbing the banister, she hurried down the steps. But she'd been moving too fast and she felt herself falling as she stumbled over the last few steps. Quickly she reached for the railing, catching herself, but not before Rory and Luke had turned around the corner, spotting her mother clinging to the banister, holding herself up. Rory rushed to her side.

"Mom!" She panicked. "Oh God, mom, are you all right?" She reached out her hands, trying to help her mother help when Lorelai stopped her.

"Rory, I'm fine. I just tripped. Everyone trips, honey." Lorelai pulled herself up, wincing as she stood. "See?" She said, letting her daughter examine her. "I'm fine."

Rory glared at her. "What are you doing out of bed? You should be resting! The doctor told you to take it easy!"

"I am taking it easy, _Rory_." The injured woman started, sounding somewhat hysterical. "Taking it easy doesn't mean I'm not allowed to do anything. Taking it easy doesn't mean I have to stay in my bed for two weeks. Seriously, Rory, I'm fine. Hon, you don't have to treat me like an invalid. Actually, I would prefer it if you didn't."

Rory glanced over at Luke, whose face remained expressionless as he wisely chose not to involve himself in this matter, before turning back to her mom. "I'm sorry," she said, taking a small step back, giving her mom some room. "I didn't mean to be like that… I'm just worried about you."

Lorelai patted her daughter's shoulder understandingly. "I know you mean well, kiddo, and I love you for it, but… you know everything becomes tiring."

"I know," Rory admitted reluctantly. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, forget about it. Now," Lorelai said, stepping off the last stair. "I could have sworn I heard some sort of crashing noise coming from down here… What's up with that?"

"Um," Luke started, deciding to speak for the first time. "Sookie came over with about enough food to feed you and half of the entire town for a week. Well, maybe not a week anymore, she kinda knocked a few things over and made a mess. Everything's fine though! It's okay…"

Lorelai smiled slightly. "Well, I guess she's not too mad at me."

"I told you she would understand. She knows what you've been going through tough times lately and she understands. She's your friend. She'll always forgive you." Luke shoved his hands into his pockets.

Lorelai nodded. Not saying anything, she walked past the two of them and went into the kitchen.

"Wow…" she said, staring down at the floor covered in many different pastas, soups and several other foods she didn't even know the names to. "Yeah, a little messy…"

Rory snuck up behind her mom, sliding her arm around her waist she said, "Don't worry about it. I'll clean it up later."

"You know what? I think I'll let you." Lorelai turned back to her daughter. "But before I let you tackle the seemingly impossible mission, I need your help."

"With what?" Rory asked, raising a brow.

"Well…" Lorelai started slowly. "With washing my hair. I know, it sounds… weird, but I can't do it by myself. I'm not supposed to get my stitches wet so I can't take a shower. But the blood in my hair is a really gross feeling. So, I was thinking maybe you could help me wash it in the sink…"

"Uh," Rory stared at her awkwardly. "Yeah, sure, I guess. You're not gonna, um, you know, be naked, are you?"

"Rory!" Lorelai exclaimed, glancing quickly at Luke, embarrassed.

Rory shrugged innocently. "I'm sorry," she said. "Do you wanna do it in the upstairs bathroom?"

"Uh, sure," Lorelai agreed.

"I'll be upstairs in a minute; I'm gonna clean up the glass real quick."

"Okay," Lorelai said, slowly walked out of the room and up the stairs. "Just don't take too long! I feel like I have blood suckers crawling through my hair eating up the dry blood!"

"Rory go with your mom, I can clean this up," Luke said, giving the young Gilmore a slight push towards the stairs.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, go help your mom."

Rory nodded. "Yeah." She looked up at Luke. "It's good to see her like this, you know? She's coming back to us. In no time at all she'll be quoting 'It Happened One Night' and ' Casablanca'."

"Yes she will." As he watched Rory leave the room, he sighed and turned back to the mess. If only Rory knew her mother was putting on a show for her daughter's benefit. Lorelai was far from being back to her normal self.

----

Yes, I know, it's a short chapter and not too much happend in it... I promise you the next one will be longer!

Well, you know what I'm going to say, but I'm going to say it anyway. Please review!


	17. Groceries And More Nightmares

A/N: I wanna thank my sister Morgann for editing this and also I want to thank all my reviewers without whom I'd probably wouldn't continue this story.

**Chapter 17: Groceries and more nightmares… **

Rory sighed as she closed Lorelai's bedroom door.

Earlier she had attempted to wash her mom's hair without actually touching the stitches or letting the bandage get wet; she had failed at both. She had accidentally dug the palm of her hand into her mother's scalp (which Lorelai denied caused her any pain) and then promptly poured some water next to the bandage. Fortunately for her, the bandage was barely damp; she doubted it even reached the stitches. Once the task was semi-successfully accomplished, Lorelai agreed to try to nap again. Her head had barely hit the pillow before she was fast asleep.

Rory quietly made her way downstairs where she found Luke, sitting at their kitchen table, staring down at his hands. "Luke?" She called softly, moving over to him. "What's wrong?"

Luke looked up, startled, as if he hadn't heard her.

"Rory!" He said, looking behind her as if expecting to see someone else there. "Where's your mom?"

Rory nodded towards the stairs. "She's sleeping." Taking a seat across the table from the man, she eyed him suspiciously. "What's the matter with you? You seemed to be off in space… Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. I'm fine." Luke nodded slowly. "What about you? Are _you _okay?"

"Me?" Rory asked. "Um, yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be fine?"

"I didn't say you weren't," Luke said quickly. "I was just trying to… start a conversation."

Rory raised an eyebrow. "Good. 'Cause I am… you know, fine."

"Good."

"Good."

Luke blew out a puff of air. "So…" he started, looking around the room. "How did the whole hair-washing thing go? You didn't get her stitches wet, did you?"

Rory shook her head. "No, no, course not." She lied. "It was fine; sink water takes forever to warm up and it still wasn't that warm- I think something may be wrong with it. But, yeah, it went okay. Mom no longer has blood in her hair so she's happy now." She smiled slightly. "Really tired, but fine."

"Good, that's… good."

"Yeah," Rory agreed. "I'm kind of tired too. Do you mind…?"

"Oh, no!" Luke said, catching on quickly. "Not at all, go ahead, grab a few hours before you have to head back to Yale. I'm just fine."

Rory smiled slightly. "Okay," pushing herself up from the table she looked at him. "You know, Luke, you don't have to stay. You can go home and do whatever you need to do. I think mom and me will be fine…"

"Naw, it's okay. I don't mind. If I were back at home, I'd probably be watching the game. I can do that here. Don't worry, go get some sleep."

"Okay," Rory stared for her bedroom before she turned back, spinning on her heels. "Oh, and if mom wakes up before I do, don't hesitate waking me up, okay?"

"Go to sleep, Rory." Luke ordered.

"I'll see you later."

-

Luke sighed as Rory disappeared into her bedroom, shutting the door behind her.

Slapping his knee, he forced himself to stand. Opening the fridge, he felt his jaw drop slightly when he saw the contents in it. A ketchup bottle, pickles, a package of pop tarts, an empty container of milk and left over pizza in a zip lock bag all crammed on the top shelf. The rest of the fridge was completely empty and scrubbed clean. He couldn't see a crumb or a speck of anything anywhere.

What had she been doing? Living off of pop tarts and condiments? Shaking his head he shut the door, deciding he didn't want to think about it. They needed groceries. He was going to make sure both Lorelai and Rory ate something that didn't involve pop tarts, ketchup or pickles. As he found a pen buried in the silverware drawer, he grabbed a post it off the refrigerator and wrote down 'Gone to Dooses'.

Grabbing his coat, although it wasn't cold outside, he left the house and hurried into his truck. As he shoved the keys into the ignition, he hoped the noise wouldn't wake up the sleeping Gilmore girls. Backing out of the driveway, he quickly drove to Doose's market.

-

Luke grabbed the first shopping basket he saw as he entered the store. Heading over to the produce isle, he quickly began to fill his basket with various fruits and vegetables, even though he knew it would be a hard job to get Lorelai to actually eat them. That was something he usually unable to do, even when they were together. But at the moment she needed something relatively healthy. She had been living off hospital crap for far too long.

Making his way towards the 'noodle' section, he tossed a couple bags into the basket when Miss Patty, who had obviously spotted him come into the store, rushed over. Her arms flying wildly as she stopped in front of him, slightly out of breath.

"Luke!" She exclaimed loudly, grabbing the attention of any and all shoppers. "Thank god you're here. How's Lorelai doing? We didn't want to stay after what happened, but we're all very worried about her. How is the poor thing? Is she not talking to anyone? Do you want me to go over and try comforting her? I know several good stories that might cheer her up. Like this one, I was on the-"

"Patty, thanks for the offer but she's fine. Lorelai was just a little overwhelmed with everyone's presence, that's all." Luke grabbed a loaf of French bread. "She's at home, resting."

"You left her home alone?" Miss Patty gasped, placing her hand across her chest.

"No, of course not!" Luke looked over at her. "Who do you think I am? She shouldn't be left alone right now. Rory's there with her. I just came to pick up a few things then I'm heading back over."

"Good, good." She said with one of her famous I-know-what-you're-up-to-even-if-you-don't smiles. "Let me know if you need anything, honey." And with that, she was gone.

Shaking his head, he had no doubt in his mind that the rumor mill would be cooking up crazy ideas about the two of them before he even got back. Not that they were actually that crazy. The citizens of Stars Hollow normally came up with pretty good rumors about himself and Lorelai; they just were never very accurate.

He moved over to the meats and saw Babette rush into the store, looking down all the aisles. Luke quickly ducked behind a cereal display, not really feeling like assuring another townsperson that Lorelai was okay. He let out a sign of relief as Babette left the market. Grabbing a package of chicken, he headed for the checkout and almost sighed again as he spotted Taylor behind the counter.

"Chicken soup?"

Luke looked at him as Taylor rang up his items. "Um, yeah," he said in a distracted voice, pulling out the money from his wallet.

"Are you cooking for Lorelai?" Taylor questioned as he bagged the groceries.

"I don't think that's really any of your business, Taylor."

"I think you need to have a talk to her about how she treats other people," Taylor started, taking the money from Luke. "That temper of hers is going to get the best of her. And before she knows it, she won't have any friends left in Stars Hallow. She'll-"

"Taylor I really don't want to hear it," he snapped back, grabbing his purchases and making a dash for the door. If anyone else tried to talk to him before he made it back to Lorelai's place, he was going to lose it.

----

"_AHH_!"

Lorelai Gilmore jolted awake, out of breath. Closing her eyes shut, she gasped for air as she tried to calm herself down. Sweat covered her forehead and the back of her neck. As she wrapped her arm around her body, shivers shot up her spine. Still shook up by her dream, she didn't even realize Luke was beside her, looking rather concerned.

"Lorelai, are you okay?" Reaching over, he touched her shoulder in a comforting way.

She jumped even at the slightest touch. But feeling Luke's warm touch on her shoulder, she let him keep it there. To answer his question, she shook her head. Tears filled her eyes again, reminding her of the event that her mind had just played.

"It was awful," she choked. "It was horrible. It was… it…" she broke into sobs.

Luke just sat there a moment, watching her fall apart in front of him all over again. He'd come up to her room no more then two minutes ago after hearing her scream from downstairs. At first he thought she was in pain, but he had found her asleep when he entered the room. She'd been thrashing around in her bed, screaming words that sounded alien to his ears.

He slid his arm around her waist. "It's okay, it was just a dream."

Lorelai shook her head as she cried. Automatically, she leaned against him and he began to softly stroke her hair. She tried her best to stop the sobs so she could make out an actual sentence.

"It was awful." She repeated, her voice quivering. "I know it was just a dream, but… it felt like so much more. Luke, it felt so real." Lorelai grabbed a fistful of his flannel shirt.

"What did?"

Wiping her tears against his shirt, she pulled away slightly but didn't look at him.

"Paul Anka… in my dream." She sniffed. "He… he told me I killed him. He was laughing at me. My own dog was laughing at me because I killed him." A sob escaped her. "He was taunting me. Saying that… saying that I was a horrible pet owner… he said I killed all my pets. And then he died. Right in front of me. But it wasn't that he just died- I watched myself _kill _him. With a knife. There was blood everywhere, all over me, all over him." She fell back against his chest. "Oh, Luke! It was horrible!"

"Lorelai, you did not kill your dog." He said, pushing her away; he slid his hand under her chin and lifted it so she was looking at him. "That dog did not die because of something you did or did not do, okay? It was just a nightmare."

"I know it was. I know, but… it just seemed so real, ya know? I could see myself doing it. The blood… Paul Anka, everything felt so real. I just… I-"

"I know. I'm sure it was awful, but it wasn't real, okay? There's no blood."

She nodded slowly, but didn't say anything. As the minutes passed, her breathing evened and she stopped crying, except for the occasional tear.

"Are you hungry? I made some chicken soup…" He watched her lift her head, their eyes finally meeting.

"You cooked?" She croaked.

He nodded. "Yeah, I hope that's okay. You had nothing in the house. I made it an hour ago, but I didn't know if I should wake you. So, whenever you're hungry I'll just heat it up." He smiled slightly as her face lightened up a bit. "Oh, and I made sure Rory ate before she headed back to Yale."

"Rory went back to Yale?" Lorelai asked, glancing at the clock. "Oh my God, it's ten!"

"Yeah, it's okay though. Rory's fine. I offered to give her a ride but she refused. She called and said she got there okay and to check up on you."

Lorelai nodded slowly. She had missed saying goodbye to her kid, again.

"Oh." She wiped away a tear with the bottom of her sleeve. "So I missed her again, huh?"

"Yeah, but she said she'll be coming back tomorrow and on the weekend. You'll have plenty of time to catch up with her," Luke responded. "So, are you hungry? Do you want me to bring some soup up to you?"

"No," Lorelai said glumly, pushing herself away him. "I think I'm going to head downstairs anyway. There's no way I'm going to be able to sleep tonight."

"Okay."

Lorelai pulled her sling back over her arm, securing it.

"I'm sorry about the shirt." She apologized, gesturing to his flannel top. "I probably have one… somewhere. Your shirts I mean…"

She stumbled off the bed and moved over to the dresser. Pulling out the bottom drawer, there laid a single folded shirt. It was Luke's, one of his favorites. After they broke up and he packed up all his stuff while she was at work one day, she had found it in a batch of freshly laundered clothes; apparently he didn't check there before leaving. And since that day, she hadn't gone into the diner so she never had the opportunity to give it back. Not that she would have anyway. The shirt brought back so many memories.

For a month she wouldn't go near that drawer, until one day Chris has opened it to put his socks away. That's when she had irrationally freaked out and demanded that he never open it again. Since that day, she found herself sniffing it, trying to smell his scent and bring back some happy memories of them together. But of course, that always led to the thought of him gone from her life, then she would shove it back into the small place and swore to herself she wouldn't ever open it. But of course, she did. Actually, she found herself by that place a lot more since the mess with Christopher.

Lorelai picked it up and held it for a moment, then promptly passed it over to Luke.

"Wow…" he said quietly, accepting it. "I didn't-… why di-…" His eyes met hers. "Why did you keep it? I thought you made boxes and threw them away after something like… um, happens."

She glanced at her feet, shifting awkwardly. "I don't know." It was a lie and he knew it, but she didn't care.

"Okay then," Luke said. "I'll uh, be downstairs…"

She nodded, but didn't look at him. "All right."

Luke lingered for a moment, before walking out of the room.

She let out a long exasperated sigh and stepped in front of the mirror. Lorelai was relieved that she no longer looked like a scary old woman anymore. Though she didn't have any makeup on and her untamed curls hadn't been brushed, she looked pretty decent. She was tempted to add some mascara and a dab of lip gloss, but decided against it.

Giving her reflection a sad smile, she turned and headed downstairs…

----

In less then five minutes Lorelai had convinced Luke to let her eat in front of the TV rather then kitchen table.

As he handed over the steaming bowl of chicken noodle soup, he watched as she shrugged to balance it on her knees as she ate with only one hand; it didn't work and she gave up and put the bowl on the coffee table instead, then proceeded to slid onto the floor.

"You can't possibly be comfortable like that," Luke stated as Lorelai shifted around, trying to find a comfortable position.

"I'm fine, Luke," Lorelai insisted, leaning her back against the couch. She flashed him a smile. "See? This'll work fine. I can sit here and eat, and when I'm done, I'll move back onto the couch. There, you happy?"

"Or," he started again. "We could have eaten at the table like normal people. And after finishing dinner, _then_ moving onto the couch- that way you wouldn't have to eat on the floor."

Lorelai glanced at the TV screen that was playing a rerun of MacGyver. "Then I would have missed Jack Dalton stealing all Mac's stuff…" she said. "You wouldn't want me to miss that, now would you?"

"Yeah, and how many times have you seen this stupid show?" He asked, passing her a piece of French bread.

She rolled her eyes and stuffed the bread into her mouth. "This is so not a stupid show," she protested, mouth full. "This is MacGyver, AKA only the coolest boy-scout genius hero ever. You'd like him. He does all these really dangerous missions and stuff, but he won't ever use a gun. Ever. Well, he did on that one occasion to unscrew something or another. He's this super smart man who can make a bomb with a piece of chewing gum."

Luke stared at her, unbelieving. "You do know that is impossible, don't you?"

She shook her head. "Nope," she replied, glancing back towards the television. "Not for ole' MacGyver it isn't." Lorelai picked up her spoonful of soup and slurped it. "God, Luke, this is delicious. I'll totally eat vegetables if you cook them in something as good as this." She took another slurp.

"I'm glad you like it." He smiled. "But we both know you won't actually eat any of the vegetables. You'll leave them in the bowl, like always, pushing them around until they're spoiled and then you tell me I need to learn to pick out fresh veggies."

Gasping playfully, Lorelai pretended to look hurt. "My, my, Luke Danes, you astound me with your knowledge." She smiled up at him. "Well, or at least you know my eating habits."

"It's good to see you smile again."

"Well…" she started slowly, the smile fading slightly and a serious expression appearing. "It's good to have a reason to smile."

Turning away, Luke cleared his throat and tried to pay attention on the show. "So, the guy with the mustache is MacGyver?"

"Uh, no, that's Jack Dalton. One of the coolest stupidest guys you'll ever see…"

----

... la, la...

Please review!


	18. A Doggie Heaven

A/N: Thanks everyone for the reviews! And thank you Morgann for editing this!

**Chapter 18: A doggie heaven… **

He looked so peaceful, so natural on her couch Lorelai thought as she watched the sound asleep Luke's chest rise and fall. He'd crashed around midnight, too exhausted to even put up a fight. She had obviously worn him out to the breaking point. And he thought a worn out Gilmore wouldn't be so bad. The thought almost made her laugh, but she didn't, not wanting to wake up the sleeping Luke.

She reached over, pulling off his already slipping baseball cap and placed it on the coffee table next to him. As she stood up, she turned of the glowing TV and the room suddenly went pitch black, except for the hint of moonlight streaming from the open curtains of the living room windows. Tightening the blanket Luke had fetched for her hours ago around her shoulders, she let out a cold shiver. The temperature had dropped significantly since that afternoon.

Making her way slowly and carefully into the kitchen, she only crashed into one chair as she reached the table, but thankfully no new pain registered anywhere.

Flicking on the lights, Lorelai quickly started a batch of coffee; she used the rest of the package to make it some of the strongest ever. She would need it sooner or later and sooner sounded a whole lot better than later at the moment.

Lorelai cast a look back towards the living room. Pulling the blanket off her shoulders, she made her way back towards the couch. As her eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, she opened the throw blanket and carefully tucked it around Luke, making sure he was warm enough for the cold night. She was about to leave when from the corner of her eye she saw his boots sticking out from under the blanket.

Groaning slightly, she slowly unlaced his shoes as best she could with one hand. As she pulled them off, a horrible smell filled her nostrils and the thought of Luke not changing his socks in days, probably since her daughter called him, made her slightly sick. Covering her nose slightly with her shoulder, she tried to wave the odor away, but it didn't seem to help any. With a faster pace, she removed the other boot and quickly backed out of the room. Hopefully her air freshener was still working.

She started to return to the kitchen for the bathroom but stopped once she passed the bathroom door. She walked backwards a couple of steps and paused in front of the closed door. She stood there a good minute before she worked up the courage to open it. As she stepped inside, she turned on the light and almost gasped at what she saw- nothing.

Where was the body? Who had moved Paul Anka?

Shutting the door behind her, she lowered herself onto the floor that once held the corpse of her beloved dog. Lorelai rested her head against the white walls as she let out a shaky breath.

She was glad when new tears didn't appear. She was tired of crying. Maybe she had cried them all away. Deciding not to even think about it, she wrapped her arm around her shaking body and stared at the floor. In her dream, there was a pool of blood. Quickly trying to erase the thought from her head, she though of something else but she couldn't focus.

So she sat there, reliving her dream over and over…

----

Luke woke up with the sun on his face, blinding him as he opened his eyes. The house was silent; the only noise to be heard was from the birds chirping outside. He sat up and pulled off a blanket he couldn't remember putting on. Taking a look around the room, he didn't see Lorelai anywhere.

As he swung his feet over the edge of the couch and made contact with the cold floor, he noticed his boots were missing. He was pretty sure he didn't take them off while sleeping.

He saw a light coming from the kitchen as he stood. Yawning, he walked tiredly into the room, expecting to find Lorelai sitting at the table, devouring a cup of coffee as she tried to stay awake. But she wasn't there. It appeared that she started the coffee but it didn't seem like anyone had drunk any of it. Now _that_ was unusual. There were only few occasions when Lorelai Gilmore didn't drink coffee. Something wasn't right. Or maybe she had just been too tired that she'd gone to bed.

Luke shuffled back towards the living, preparing to go up the stairs when the rays of light shooting through the bottom of the bathroom door caught his attention. Of course she would be in there. She hadn't gone near that room since she arrived home. He sighed. Great, he'd be dealing with a bawling Lorelai again. Not that _he _minded so much, but he hated that she was going through this.

He sucked in a long breath and quietly turned to handle and pulled the door open. Immediately his eyes fell upon the Gilmore leaning against the wall in the corner of the room. Her eyes were wide and seemed frozen to the ground. He couldn't see any tears- that was always a good sign. Taking a small step closer to her, he shut the door.

"You okay?"

Lorelai literarily flinched at the sudden noise. She turned to look at him as though she hadn't realized someone else was in the room. A small smile spread across her face.

"Hey Luke," she greeted; her voice cracked. She patted on the spot next to her, silently asking him to join her.

As he lowered himself beside her, he got a good look at her face; an expression he couldn't quite decipher covered it. That was new. He could always tell what she was thinking by her face, or at least by her eyes. But now they both were blank.

"Lorelai, what's wrong?" He asked, knowing it was a stupid question. "I mean- is there anything you need?"

Lorelai shook her head. "No," she replied, her voice sounding far away.

He settled his back against the wall and watched as Lorelai's eyes turned back towards the ground where Paul Anka's body once laid. He hoped she wouldn't be mad at him for having the body removed. If he hadn't, not only would it have stunk up the house eventually, he knew Lorelai would have gone crazy if she had seen him again.

"Thank you." Lorelai's voice was weak, but full of emotion.

Her words surprised him. "For what?"

She was quiet for a moment. "For taking care of him," she said, gesturing to the ground. "For getting him out of my house… I don't think I could have done that." She swallowed. "I don't think I could stand seeing him that way again. The dream was horrible enough and that was just a dream- it didn't mean anything." A single tear spilled from her shiny blue eyes. She promptly brushed it away and looked at the man. "Thanks."

Luke nodded. "Yeah, sure, no problem," he replied, giving her a small smile. "You sure you don't want some coffee or something? I could make some eggs and fry up some bacon."

Shaking her head, Lorelai grinned. "No, I'm not really hungry just yet," she said softly. "I just want to sit here a minute."

"Well," he said, rubbing the ache away in the back of his neck from his awkward sleeping position. "Thank you… for um, the blanket and taking my boots off."

Lorelai let out a small snicker. "No offense, Luke, but you really need to change your socks once in awhile. They smelled worse then that time Kirk left all the Easter eggs in the town square."

It was good to hear her laugh, or rather, snicker. He'd missed it.

"Well, not everyone can have nice smelling feet."

"No, but they can at least learn to change their socks." Lorelai retorted. "But then again, I guess you've been kinda busy lately…"

"Yeah, just a bit."

Lorelai turned away slightly and tucked a piece of her behind her ear. "I'm gonna miss him."

"I know," Luke said sincerely. "Me too."

"You hated him," Lorelai stated.

"I never _hated_ hated him. I just didn't love the dog the way you did." Luke said uncomfortably. "I just… I'm not really a dog person, you know? Not a big animal person in general."

A grin slid onto Lorelai's face as she looked at him. "You _really_ liked him," she said, a tinge of awe in her voice. "Luke Danes… is a dog person."

"What? No!" Luke cried in defense. "Not really. I liked him because you liked him and I really didn't have a choice."

She shook her head, unconvinced. "You be a dog person, Luke Danes."

"I am _not_ a dog person!"

"You are _so_ a dog person. You're one of those dog people who don't even know it." She grinned again. "I think it's good, really. There are not too many men dog lovers anymore. Ooh! We should get you a dog! A little Chihuahua or something. Oh! That would be so cute! A little teacup Chihuahua sticking out from your shirt pocket, barking at all the customers. He'll be just like you. You could even train him to attack whenever Taylor comes around. That would be so funny! A little dog scaring away that big man…"

Luke rolled his eyes. "I don't even know what a teacup dog is."

"It's a small dog that can fit into a teacup. The name is self explanatory."

"Do you know you're insane?"

She nodded. "Well, some would disagree… but, yeah, I thought it was pretty obvious."

"Yeah, it is." He rolled his eyes.

Lorelai breathed in a deep breath before leaning over and placing her head on his shoulder. "Do… do you think there's such a thing as a doggy heaven?"

Luke, who was still surprised by her sudden movement, stared incredulously at the woman. It took him a moment before he said anything. "Um, I uh, I don't know." He cleared his throat. "I'm not a good, uh, I'm not an expert on the subject or anything. But, yeah, sure, I guess there's a dog heaven. I mean, why wouldn't there be?"

"You're a horrible liar," Lorelai said bluntly.

"Yeah, well, you know."

"Yeah, I do know…" Lorelai started, her voice quiet as she spoke. "I know you well enough to know that you don't really have a clue what to do when I'm like this. It's okay though, you're doing a good job. So, now, back to the dog heaven."

"A dog heaven, huh?" Luke repeated, raising a brow. "A dog heaven for that dog that made you cover the kitchen clock because he was scared of the numbers? The dog that would start barking when you watched a movie with Jim Carrey and wouldn't stop until you turned it off? You just better hope there isn't such a thing as a doggy hell…"

"Hey!" Lorelai cried instantly. "Paul Anka may have not been the easiest dog to own, but he was a good one, you know? I think he kept me sane throughout everything. He'd snuggle up next to me if I was having a bad day, and let me tell you, I've had lots of them since… well, you know. And especially when Rory and I weren't talking, you were there too, but so was he. It's kind of like… things have settled down and then suddenly he's gone. He's gone and I miss him already. I always thought Babette was crazy with her obsession with cats, but I completely understand it. Now."

Luke carefully wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

He hated that he'd caused her so much pain, though he knew it wasn't entirely his fault. He could have- no, _should have_ handled the whole daughter situation better. And there wasn't a day that went by that he didn't think about what he should have done. It all led up to one thing. He should have told her from the beginning. Lorelai would have understood that he needed some time to get to know April, but what she couldn't understand was why he didn't want her to be part of it. He had been so dead set trying to establish a good relationship with her, not realizing he was losing the one with Lorelai.

If you could go back in time and fix mistakes, this is the one he would do. He would do it right. But unfortunately, that was impossible. They were both stuck with the mistakes each other made. It seemed like fate had broke them up, only to try and get them back together again. Not that he actually believed in fate…

The sound of the Gilmore sniffling brought him back to reality.

"Hey, it's all right. It's okay to miss him you know. We're all going to miss him. All of us."

"Yeah," she said with a slight nod. "I guess we all are."

He squeezed Lorelai's shoulder slightly. He was about to say something, words that would hopefully comfort her when he heard her wince. He pulled away.

"Lorelai, what's wrong? Did I bump your arm?"

"No." She shook her head. "You didn't do anything. I um, I need to take some more of the pain medication. It's coming back, strong."

"I'll go get it," he offered, feeling somewhat responsible for not reminding her. "It's on your nightstand, right?"

Lorelai didn't respond at first. Her face twisted into a pained expression and she doubled over. "Yeah, I think so… but Rory might have put it in the dresser drawer."

"Okay," Luke said, pulling his shoulder out from under her head and getting to his feet. "I'll be right back."

-

Lorelai didn't move until she heard the footsteps of Luke Danes running up her stairs. She let out a small cry as she tried to adjust the slinged arm into a better position. She couldn't believe how sudden the pain had came back- like someone had thrown a brink at her out of no where.

She was amazed at the tears she had left to shed. Although she'd cried more then she ever had in the past few days, the tears were still there. Would she ever run out of them? As she laid her head back against the wall, she felt the urge to scream. Not because of the pain, though that sounded pretty good as well, it was the position she found herself in yet again. She was helpless. She couldn't even move if she wanted to. She hated the fact that everyone was right- she needed someone else to help her.

Lorelai could hear the sounds of Luke rushing around in her bedroom, trying to find the medicine for her.

She wanted to wipe the few tears away so he didn't see her crying when he came back, but she couldn't. If she moved even the slightest, pain would surge through her shoulder. So she let them be.

"Lorelai."

She looked up as Luke bolted back into the room, a glass of water and medicine in one hand and what looked like a box of bandages in the other. Feeling guilty she hadn't asked her daughter to help change her head's bandaid, she looked away and silently sighed.

Barely even registering as Luke handed her the cup and two pills, she quickly swallowed them down. She knew the pain wouldn't leave immediately, but she hoped it would. With another sigh, she closed her eyes.

"I'm tired of this," she muttered. "I'm tired of feeling this way, Luke. I just want it all to go away."

"I know," he said sincerely, obviously thinking the same thing.

Lorelai scoffed slightly when she realized how pathetic she sounded. Opening her eyes, she was greeted by his concerned brown ones.

"You're a really great guy, you know that?"

It was Luke's turn to scoff. "No, I'm not."

She would have persisted, but knowing it would lead to no where and not really having the energy, she dropped it.

"I brought some clean bandages," he said after a minute of silence. "The doctor said you needed to change it…"

"Yeah," Lorelai said quietly, moving closer to him. "… do you mind?"

Luke shook his head and opened the package. "Not at all," he said. "Just let me know if I'm hurting you, okay?"

He didn't do anything until she gave him the nod. As his hands reached over and began to remove the old medicine tape, she winced and pulled away slightly.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, pulling the rest of the tape off. "It's all done."

"I hate removing band aids," she muttered.

"I know," Luke said sympathetically as he pulled off the actual bandage and took a good look at the healing wound. His eyes squinted slightly as he eyed the black stitches surrounded by a yucky yellow color. "Hey, the doctor gave you some kind of cream to prevent it from scarring… he said it might sting a little…"

"Go ahead," Lorelai said. "I'd kill myself if I was stuck with this scar for life."

Luke smiled softly. "I dunno, I think you'd look pretty cute with a scar."

"Shut up."

----

Please review!


	19. A Mothers Words

A/N: Wow, big blooper on my part on the color of Luke's eyes. I don't know why I wrote brown, because I _know_ they're blue. Well, more gray then blue but everyone says they're blue, so that's how I think of them. Sorry about the mix-up and thanks to the people who pointed it out! As always thank you for the reviews and enjoy this chapter!

**Chapter 19: A mothers words… **

It was little after two in the afternoon when Luke had received a phone call from Lane letting him know that one of the twins had caught whatever Zack had, so she would be late to work as she had to take the child to the doctor. Luke had been tempted to just close up the diner entirely or have Caesar run it by himself, again, but Lorelai had convinced him she was perfectly fine and if she needed anything from anyone, she would call Babette and have her come over.

Luke, though he gave many objections, reluctantly agreed to leave- after first making sure she had everything she could ever need placed within arms reach on the living room coffee table, and waiting until the Gilmore was resting on the couch.

Lorelai gave a sigh of relief when she finally heard the sound of an engine starting up. She was glad to have the house all to herself for a short while. Although she liked Luke being around, it was getting tiresome being treated like an invalid all the time.

She sat there a few minutes, letting the silence of the empty house settle before she picked up the remote and turned on the TV. She hated the silence. It was just another reminder of her dead pet – and she wasn't sure she could handle that right now. As she flipped through the channels, she groaned. Why was there nothing good on TV when you needed it but there was always something good on when you had to rush out the door?

Lorelai slumped further down the couch, her legs barely touching the opposite end. What was she going to do? Her arm had finally calmed down and was no longer in pain, but she was afraid if she moved it, it would change and she would be stuck trying to find that 'right' position again.

Laying her head back against her pillow, she gently tugged the small blanket Luke had insisted on leaving over her body.

After surfing through all the channels three more times, she finally came up with the same conclusion she had a minute ago: nothing was on. As she turned off the TV, she tossed the remote to the floor with a sigh. She should have made Luke put on a movie or something- at least then she would have something to do.

Minutes flew by while she just sat there, thinking of nothing and everything. She thought about Rory, hoping her daughter was concentrating and not worrying about her mother. She thought about Luke but didn't let herself think too long about that; she switched over to Kirk's doll he had purchased then over to Lane's babies and how quickly they were growing.

She heard someone knocking on her front door, but she didn't move or even call out to invite them in. If it was someone who really needed or wanted to see her, they would know to let themselves in. Apparently this person didn't. As the stranger continued knocking, Lorelai closed her eyes, hoping they would just go away and leave her be. She didn't want to talk to anyone.

She was half asleep when she heard someone call her name.

"Lorelai?"

As she slowly opened her eyes, she almost fell off the couch as she saw her mother, standing over her, only her eyes showing the concern she felt.

"Mom!" She cried. "You could kill a person sneaking up on a person that way- or at least give them a heart attack. What are you doing here?"

Emily normally would have mentioned the fact that she had knocked, several times in fact, but she decided to let it slide this time. "I was worried about you," her mother explained, her voice sounding rather hurt. "Can't I be worried about my daughter without the world coming to an end?"

"No, mom, I didn't mean it like that…" Lorelai trailed off and brought a hand to her head as a sudden headache emerged. "Mom, I was just surprised to see you here… now. You just surprised me, that's all."

Her mother accepted that. Deciding not to continue this conversation, she changed the subject. "Are you feeling all right, Lorelai?" She asked, suddenly realizing her daughter hadn't moved even the slightest bit. "Are you in pain? Do you need a doctor?"

Lorelai continued rubbing her head as her headache grew worse. "No, mom, I don't need a doctor." She said with her voice full of annoyance. "I'm fine. It's just a headache, that's all."

Emily stared at her, unconvinced. "You haven't moved since I got here," she stated. "Do you have another back spasm?"

"No, mom," Lorelai groaned. The last thing she wanted was her mother to think she was hurt and play nurse, which, of course, Emily would volunteer to do… and the last time she did, things didn't work out so well. Granted this time Rory was no longer living at home and it wouldn't be such a scandal if she stayed out all night with a boy. "My arm just happens to be darn comfortable right now. Sorry if I offended you by not answering the door."

Emily secretly felt relieved. Lorelai was returning to her usual self. Taking a seat at the foot of the couch, she casually asked, "Where's Luke?"

Lorelai glanced down at the blanket in hand and pulled out a loose thread. "He uh, he had to go back to work. Someone called in sick."

"And you're here alone?" Emily asked in surprise. "Rory went back to college?"

Lorelai sighed. "I can handle this on my own, mom."

"I know you can. But you could have called me to come over, just so you had someone here if something happened or you needed something," Emily said, covering what hurt she may have felt with a snappish tone. "I know we don't get along, Lorelai, but that is no reason to shut me out of your life when you need someone."

She looked up and saw the look in her mother's eyes and it made her feel guilty. Her mom had always seemed to care about her well being. Well, of course she did, she was, after all, her mother. But there was something else, something Lorelai wasn't sure bugged Emily. That one time at Rory's sixteenth birthday party she had seemed genuinely concerned when she found out her daughter had broken her leg and hadn't bothered to mention it to her. It was things like that her mother didn't like being out of the loop on.

"Mom," Lorelai said gently. "I would have called if I needed you."

Emily looked at her daughter, skeptical.

"Luke only left half an hour ago. It was kinda nice having the house to myself again. I haven't really had the time to be alone and think until now…"

Emily remained quiet for a moment before nodding. "All right," she said softly. "I'll leave you alone."

Lorelai watched her mother stand up and smooth out her skirt. Sighing, she gave in. "Mom, you don't have to leave if you don't want to. I wasn't hinting at it. I was just… I didn't mean for it to come out the way it did. I'm sorry. I'm really glad you came, seriously."

Her mother smiled slightly. "Are you hungry?"

Lorelai gestured towards the coffee table half filled with pop-tarts, doughnuts, crackers and for an apparent joke, an apple.

"I think I'm good for now," she responded. "Luke pretty much set me up with everything I'd need for the next century."

"Oh," Emily said in almost a disapproving way. "All right."

Lorelai pursed her lips. "Do you…?" She glanced at the food. "Are you hungry?"

"I'm fine."

"Mom, you can sit back down if you want to." She said, hoping the uncomfortable air would lift away, but it didn't. Emily took a seat at the end of the couch again as Lorelai pulled her legs to her chest to give her mother more room. "So, how's dad?"

Emily let out a soft sigh. "Tiring."

Lorelai let a small smile cover her face. "Well, that's dad for you."

Emily simply nodded.

"So, um, what do you want to talk about?" Lorelai asked. "Or do you just want to sit here and reenact a silent film? 'Cause I think this one would make it to the Grammy's."

"Is Luke coming back?"

"What?" She asked, taken back. "What do you mean is he coming back? What kind of question is that? And what does it have to do with you if he does or not? I mean, it's not like we're together or anything…'" Lorelai let out a breath. "I mean, not that it's wrong for you to ask, I'm just curious."

"So was I," Emily retorted. "You know, Lorelai, what Luke did for you- finding you and staying with you at the hospital- was far beyond the call of duty for someone's ex-fiancée." Lorelai squirmed and was about to chime in when her mother quickly continued, "Though I never thought I would say this, I was impressed by him. It's not something just anyone would do. He's a good man. You got lucky."

Lorelai felt a lump creep up her throat. "I know," she breathed as her voice cracked. "He is a good man. One of the best men I've ever known." She was tearing up again and, not wanting her mother to see, she quickly wiped them away as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, hoping Emily wouldn't notice.

Emily did.

"You still have feelings for him," she stated more then questioned. "Don't you?"

Lorelai swallowed. "Yeah." She nodded. "I do have feelings for him- just like I always have. That only makes this situation that much harder. Why can't he be like a normal man and never speak to me again? At least then I would have a reason to hate him. Why can't he be someone like Chris? Why does he have to be Luke and make this situation so hard?"

Tears were streaming freely down her face now and the slight chance her mother hadn't noticed her tears earlier disappeared.

"I hate what I did to him more then I hate what he did to me." She buried her face into her hands as she spoke. "I should have been more patient with him- I should have waited for him to settle things with his daughter. Luke is such a great guy and these few days only prove it more then ever. I mean- I basically cheated on him, or at least that's how he sees it. And he still came to rescue me. What kind of man does that? Why kind of man is that good and perfect?"

Her breath became shallow as all her emotions spilled out and she couldn't do a thing to stop them. She let he head fall back against the arm of the couch and pulled the cushion out from under the hurt shoulder and brought it to her chest, sobbing into it.

-

Emily stared at her daughter, unsure what to do in this situation. Lorelai had never broken down in front of her before- at least not like this. Emily Gilmore wasn't one who normally got 'freaked out', but this was cutting it close. Her daughter was not a woman who cried in front of people and especially not in front of her own mother. It shocked her. Lorelai, for perhaps the first time, had let her guard down. She simply didn't care. And that's what scared her the most.

She hated seeing Lorelai in so much pain. But what she hated most was the fact that she had been wrong, it was something she was slowly growing accustomed to. Though she would probably never love Luke the way she had once loved Christopher, she respected the man. Luke was the kind of person who could push away his hard feelings when it came to the well being of her daughter. She was proud of him in a way she could never be proud of her ex-son-in-law. Christopher had not only hurt Lorelai, he had hurt her as well by taking advantage of her broken daughter after that horrible night. She could never forgive him for that. She knew the last thing Lorelai had been thinking about when she had gone over was to sleep with the man. All she had wanted was someone to comfort her, someone to tell her it would be all right. And that had certainly not been what she received.

"I'm sorry, mom," Lorelai sobbed as she tried to regain control of her emotions. "I'm sorry for breaking down like this in front of you. It's not fair of me to-"

Emily quickly reached over and took her daughter's hand, silencing her. "Lorelai," she began slowly, "I know I have no right to say anything- after all I was the one who broke you and Luke up the first time and probably had something to do with the second one as well, but… I know you two mean a lot to each other. I can see it in the way he looks at you. He's still in love with you and nothing will ever change the way he feels about you."

The daughter shook her head. "No, he doesn't. He-"

"He does," Emily insisted, gently stroking the shaking head. "I know you two have had some difficulties, but I also know you can work them out if you wanted to. He's there, Lorelai. He's waiting for you… and you're waiting for him. Neither one of you is going to be happy without the other. I can admit when I'm wrong. Though I think you could do much better then a simple diner owner, he cares about you in a way no one else ever will. Don't keep him waiting. Don't let him slip away."

Lorelai stared at her mother, her eyes shiny with tears. "I already have."

"No, you haven't," her mother insisted. "It's not too late to fix it, Lorelai. Both of you need each other. The sooner you realize it, the better. You both won't be around forever."

"I don't understand why you're telling me this- you hate Luke."

"I've never hated the man." At Lorelai's incredulous look, she added, "I've never approved of him either. I always thought you could do so much better than a man like that, but I was wrong. You only find one person who can love you the way he does." Emily smiled sadly. "I know if Richard had listened to Trix and had married Pennilyn Lott, I would be heartbroken and probably single. I know I've pushed you all this time. Pushed you away from him, from any man I thought was unacceptable." She sighed and admitted, "I think I never really thought you were capable of finding a proper husband for yourself, so I took it upon myself to do it for you."

Her words may have stung, but her daughter nodded understandingly.

"Well," she said, sniffling. "You may have pushed me, mom, but I was the one who did all the running. Until Luke, I never really saw myself getting married. And when I realized I was ready, I mean, _really_ ready for it-… he wasn't. He had a daughter to worry about while I was fantasying about our wedding. I kept telling myself things would be better when we were married- that everything would work itself out. I was selfish; I wanted him all to myself, not realizing that this twelve-year-old girl suddenly in his life needed him more then I did."

She shook her head as she continued, "April hag grown up all her life, not ever having had the privilege to know her dad. It's understandable that she would want and need him in her life… and that he'd feel the same way. But I couldn't see that. All I could see was this little girl pushing me away from the happiness I so desperately wanted. And then, I snapped. After I talked to that physiatrist that night, I just lost it and demanded he marry me now or never. And, well, he wasn't ready now and I should have seen it."

Emily tried to chime in, but Lorelai started again before she had a chance. "That night I went to Christopher's house was the biggest mistake of my life. The next morning, Luke came over, wanting to elope… as much as it hurt me to tell him, I had to. It was so hard, mom," she whispered, tears dropping. "Watching him walk away from me…he looked so hurt- not that I blame him, but this wasn't a normal kind of hurt. This was a Luke hurt. I wanted him to yell at me, scream and shout how stupid and horrible I had been… but he didn't. He just… left."

Reaching over, Emily dried her daughter's tears. "He'll forgive you, Lorelai, if he hasn't already. He knows you regret what happened that night. He also knows he was the one pushing you away. He knows this is as much as his fault as it is yours." She started to pull her way, but Lorelai caught it and held it. She looked at her daughter and, for once, saw her differently. Lorelai was no longer the stubborn teenager or her immature daughter- she was an adult. Her daughter was grown up. She slightly squeezed her daughter's hand.

"Now," she said, thinking it wise to change the subject. "Why don't I go make some tea?"

Lorelai smiled slightly. "Coffee, mom. I hate tea."

----

Well, I know there weren't any Luke and Lorelai moments in this chapter, but I love mother/daughter scenes, so I had to add it in. I'm sorry if either of them seemed out of character… I can't seem to write Emily that well in an emotional scene like this.

(P.S: I, the beta, am exhausted, so any errors are mine. Well, hers, but since I'm supposed to catch them, mine too.)

Please review!


	20. A Good Day

A/N: I'm sorry about the delay. I've been trying so hard to catch up on the rest of my TV shows before they start back up again, that I kept putting this story off. But, well, here it is. Hopefully it's worth the wait. If not, well, there's nothing I can really do about that…

**Chapter 20: A good day… **

Luke slammed the door to his truck shut and made his way up the steps of Lorelai's house. He knocked lightly on her door as he wiped the mud off his boots. When there was no answer, he stepped into the house and closed the door behind him quietly.

He had spent the majority of his afternoon worrying about Lorelai. Caesar had noticed he wasn't thinking straight, as did all their customers, and kicked him out the kitchen. The cook said it was for his own good- this way he wouldn't burn anymore hamburgers or squirt mustard on the salad like he had been doing for the past hour. He didn't like being thrown out of his own kitchen, but he soon realized that being in the front also meant he was closer to the phone and had a view of everything going on outside. That way, if Babette for some reason came running down the street, he'd see it. But, of course, Babette hadn't come down the street nor did she call him. He hoped that meant everything had gone well, but with Lorelai the way she was, you could never tell.

"Lorelai," he called out and was greeted by silence. He moved into the living room, not too surprised to find her exactly where he had left her only four hours ago. She was on the couch, curled up into a ball. And as she looked up at his voice, her eyes spoke the words she didn't. She had been crying again.

Luke abandoned the groceries he'd picked up from Doose's at the door and maneuvered around the half floating balloons to her side.

"What's wrong?"

Lorelai shook her head. "Nothing," she replied unconvincingly.

He slid his arms around her shoulders and pulled her into an embrace. As she laid her head against his chest, Luke could feel her relaxing. He laid his head on top of hers and sighed silently. He didn't know what he was supposed to do. Should he try talking to her about it? Or just keep silent and let her tell him when she was ready. He was still debating when he heard her sniffle.

"What happened?" he asked.

There was a pause. "My mom came over."

Luke could feel his anger bubbling inside him. What had Emily said this time? Didn't she realize she was hurting her daughter? Did she even care? He was glad the elder Gilmore was no longer there; he knew he wouldn't be able to keep his opinions about her behavior to himself. Emily had hurt Lorelai, _again_. How many more times would she do that to her? How many more times would she make her suffer? He'd known Lorelai for over nine years and during those years he'd listened to way too many stories about the woman to know he'd never truly like her. He'd comforted her daughter on so many Friday nights that he couldn't even count them. He could not and would not ever like Emily Gilmore.

He opened his mouth to speak, but Lorelai continued.

"At first I didn't want her here, no surprise, huh?" She smiled slightly. "But, it was… good. She wasn't her normal self. It was like she actually cared. I don't know if it was just because the state I was in or if she felt the sudden urge to be an actual human, but she seemed to mean every word she said."

Her words told him that she was serious. He quickly took back everything he'd been thinking.

"That's good," he said as he rubbed her shoulder slightly.

"Yeah it was." Lorelai smiled slightly. "I've never seen her this way before… so… so _motherly._ We just… _talked_. We have _never_ just _talked_ before. All our talks involved disapproving remarks or they quickly turned into shouting matches. And the real scary thing is… I was actually glad that she came. I was glad that we were talking. I think it was something we both really needed."

He smiled slightly, feeling somewhat proud of Lorelai's mother.

"That's good." He stroked her hair unconsciously. "What did the two of you talk about?" He couldn't think of any conversations, besides possibly the weather, that would go over too well with the both of them.

Lorelai pulled away slightly. She stared at his top collar button, not able to look him in the eyes. "Just stuff. Mother daughter kind of stuff."

Luke raised his brows. "If it was just mother-daughter stuff, what got you crying?"

She looked at him and wiped away the non-existent tears. "It's nothing," she said quietly. "It's… it's stupid."

"It's not stupid if you're crying over it, Lorelai."

The Gilmore smiled slightly, as though her words would prove him wrong. "After my mom left, I started thinking about the accident." She paused. "And I suddenly realized that my jeep is completely totaled and I have no means of transportation. It'll never work again." She looked at him. Seeing his confused expression, she added, "I told you it was stupid."

Luke realized his mouth was hanging open and quickly shut it. "Hey." He stroked her cheek. "It's okay. I could help you pick out a new car."

She shook her head and pulled away. "No… no. I want my car. I want my jeep." She rubbed her forehead. "I know- it sounds stupid, but…"

"It's not stupid," he tried to assure her, though he thought it somewhat silly himself. He guessed this freak-out moment wasn't just about her vehicle; it was probably just the thing that pushed her over the edge.

"Yeah it is," Lorelai argued stubbornly.

"If it really means so much to you, I'll take it to the best mechanic and see if there's anything that can be done to save it." He got the words out before he even thought of it.

Lorelai laughed softly. "I'm sorry- were you not the knight that came and rescued me? That car cannot be saved if someone's life depended on it."

"Yeah…" Luke said slowly. "Well, maybe we can find the same type of car."

She smiled at the word 'we'. "Yeah, maybe."

"Lorelai?" He waited until he had her attention before he continued. "Um, today at the diner… Michel came in."

A puzzled expression crept over her face. "Really?" She asked, her voice surprised and unsure how to react to his words. "And how is he?"

"Michel? He was, well, Michel," Luke said, a quick grin flashed over his face before a serious one took hold. "He um… he wanted to know if tomorrow would work for you, for um, for Paul Anka's memorial service. He said he wanted to give you one because he knows how you felt about loosing Paul Anka and that he and Sookie decided to plan the service. I told him you probably wouldn't want to go-"

"I do," Lorelai quickly objected.

"You do?" He asked, taken back. He would have thought she would have instantly declined the offer or shed a tear, but she didn't. She just sat there, looking unusually strong for her current state. "Are you sure?"

"I don't know. I mean…" She stared at her hands. "I need to get used to the fact that Paul Anka isn't around and he won't ever be around. And, well, this might help. I need to let him go." She gazed at him. "This will be good for me, I'm sure of it."

Nodding slowly, Luke broke eye contact.

He wasn't so sure she would be ready for this. He could see her now, breaking down at the mere mention of her dog's name. But she was right. She couldn't live like this forever. She needed to let Paul Anka go.

"It'll be fine." Lorelai promised, as if reading his mind.

Luke smiled, knowing that eventually she would be right. Everything would be fine and soon turn back to normal. Though things between them were still somewhat awkward, he could definitely say they made significant progress over the last few days. Though neither of them could ever forget the history between them, they could learn to put it behind them. It was, after all, history.

"Yeah," he agreed in a confident voice. "It'll be fine."

----

That night passed without a single tear. Luke and Lorelai for the first time in a while had simply talked. About nothing in particular, just talked. The subject of their failed relationship had come up, but as quickly as it came, it was gone again. Neither one of them wanted to discuss it. Not right then, anyway. Eventually they would have to talk about it, Lorelai knew, but now was not the time.

----

Lorelai woke up before her alarm clock could go off for the second time that week. This time, however, it wasn't because of some nightmare- she just wasn't tired. After all, she had slept for hours in the middle of the day for the past few days. Her body wasn't tired anymore. It had taken her at least an hour to even fall asleep, and longer to stay that way.

After carefully rolling over to her good side, she sat up, feet dandling over the edge of her bed.

Today was going to be a good day; she was sure of it. There wouldn't be anymore tears – she'd cried enough to last her a lifetime. Today, she would simply be herself and not the person who seemed to overtake her body when things became too emotional. She would go to Paul Anka's memorial service that Michel had planned, and she would be fine. She wouldn't let the images and the memories of her diseased pet pull her back into the world of suffering. She was done with that place.

She reached over and turned off her fuzzy clock before it could purr. She didn't want to wake her sleeping daughter downstairs. Rory had arrived at her house sometime after midnight- Luke had told her about the memorial service the next day- and she had wanted to be there.

Grabbing her medication, Lorelai twisted off the cap and popped two pills into her hand. She slid off the edge of her bed and stumbled into the bathroom. She turned on the lights and moved over to the sink. With a sigh, she turned on the faucet and with the help of water, swallowed her pills. Splashing water onto her face the best she could with one hand, she turned off the faucet.

She let the cool water drip off her face for a moment as she looked at herself in the mirror. She didn't look as bad she had the previous day- but it wasn't much better either. Her hair was still wild with tangles, her face pale. But the bags under her eyes were gone, and she didn't look so miserable. With another sigh, she turned off the light and headed downstairs.

As she entered the kitchen, she was surprised to find her daughter already up, sitting at the table with a large cup of steaming liquid. She smiled at the scent of the freshly brewed coffee and fetched herself a cup in silence before settling down across from Rory. As she took a gulp, she could feel her daughter's eyes upon her. She looked up.

"What?" She asked innocently. "I know I don't have any makeup on, but do I really look that bad?"

"Mom," her daughter began cautiously, watching her face carefully. "I-"

Lorelai knew what Rory wanted to talk about, but she didn't really want to talk about it right then. "Please, _please_ don't tell me I look like Auntie Mame." She watched the young Gilmore stare at her, not saying anything. She squirmed. "Wow, I must really look awful, you're speechless. You're never speechless. You can't lie, because everyone knows you can't and you're such a good kid that you won't even attempt to. I thank you."

"Mom," she tried again, her voice serious. "Mom, don't you think you should talk about it?"

Lorelai set her mug down with a sigh. "Rory," she began. "No, I don't want to talk about it. I don't even want to think about it until I have to. Okay? I know you're just trying to prepare me and all, but please, let me handle this in my own way. All right?"

"But mom-"

She cut her off by reaching over and taking her hand into hers. "Please."

Rory sighed. "Fine," she reluctantly agreed. "But if you do, you know, change your mind and wanna talk, I'll be here. Okay? Even if I'm in class, you can call me and I'll come down in to seconds. Just… let me in when you're ready."

"I will," Lorelai promised. "I will, kid."

"Good."

Straightening back in her chair, Lorelai picked up her coffee and took another sip. The familiar taste and smell brought a question to her head. "Did Luke come over this morning while I was sleeping or something?"

Rory smiled. "Who else do you think woke me up? Yeah, he came over. He brought muffins and started some coffee for us. He told me to remind you that he's picking you- _us_- up at noon to go to… you know. He doesn't want you driving right now- not that you could anyway with your arm like that."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "He's a great guy," she said quietly, before realizing the smirk on Rory's face. She quickly decided not to get in to it and switched topics. "Hey, speaking of last night, why'd you come? You didn't have to. I don't like my baby girl driving out in the dark at midnight. Bad people are out there."

"Bad people are everywhere."

"Well, as true as that is, there are even more bad people at night. I dunno know why though- maybe because they can hide in shadows so they can jump out and scare you, rob you and murder you."

Rory smiled. "Well, I was in a car… I could have run them over."

"Nah, you're too nice to do that. Knowing you, you'd probably pull over to the side of the road to see if they needed any help."

"_Mom_…"

Lorelai grinned. "Okay, so I know you well enough to know you wouldn't do that, but, still… why'd you come all the way out here? It wasn't to see your old mama, now was it?"

"You're not old." Rory insisted. "And yes, it was. I wanted to see if you're okay."

I'm fine," Lorelai assured her. "You could have just called and saved a lot of money on gas."

Rory waved her away. "Who cares about money?" She asked sarcastically. "No, um, I called Grandma to tell her not to come over, but Grandpa answered the phone and told me she'd already had. I figured you two probably had a fight and you might want someone here…"

Lorelai felt her heart tug. She really had raised the most incredibly sweet kid. "Yeah, mom did come over, but we didn't fight."

Her daughter raised a brow, unconvinced.

"Seriously!" Lorelai said. "I'm still as shocked at you were. My mother and I were in the same room for half an hour and we didn't fight. I don't even think she said a disapproving remark or anything. We just talked. It was nice, actually. I like seeing that side of my mother. I know it won't last, but it's nice to enjoy it while you can, right?"

Nodding, Rory took a drink of her own coffee. "I'm happy for you." She squeezed her mother's hand. "So, what'd you talk about?"

Why was everyone asking her that? Couldn't her mother and she have a conversation without the world demanding to know what they talked about? It was sad to realize she would have been as shocked as they all were if she hadn't been there.

"W-we um," Lorelai stammered, "We talked about Luke."

Rory was quiet for a moment. "Luke?" She repeated, sounding surprised. "You two talked about _Luke_ and didn't fight? How is that possible?"

Lorelai shrugged, still not sure herself. "I know, it sounds impossible, huh?" She smiled down at the hot liquid in her hand. "It was nice," she started slowly, thinking back to the conversation and her mother's words…

_"Lorelai, what Luke did for you- finding you and staying with you at the hospital- was far beyond the call of duty for someone's _ex_ fiancée." _

Rory stared at Lorelai, as if waiting for her to continue. When she didn't, she asked, "I know you talked about Luke, but, what about Luke did you exactly talk about? And no, I didn't mean for that to come out dirty."

"Mom told me she was proud of him," Lorelai said simply. "She was proud of him in a way she could or would never be proud of Christopher. She told me not even she could find a better guy than him."

Rory's mouth hung open slightly. "What…?" She asked, astonished. "That doesn't sound like the I-can't-stand-to-be-around-that-hobo Emily Gilmore."

"I know, I was thinking the exact thing. In fact, I even thought about calling a team in to take her to an institution. But… it was really good to hear that coming from her." A small smile crept across her face as she recalled her mother's words. "She said a lot of nice things about Luke- things that would make him blush. And then I ended up spilling all my feelings about him to her, which probably wasn't the best idea but who knows, maybe it was. Things seemed to be really good when she left."

Rory smiled. "I'm really glad," she said sincerely. "Who knows? Maybe it's not too late for you to have a relationship. Obviously it wouldn't be like ours, but it could be more then what you have. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Lorelai thought for a moment. Ever since she was a little girl, deep down she had wanted Emily Gilmore to be proud of her. She wanted her mom to praise her as she was- to _love_ her for who she really was. But she never really tried and her dreams had been crushed once Rory was born. At the time she hadn't cared- she had Rory, and that was better then anything her mother could have ever said to her. She had convinced herself she simply didn't care what her mother thought of her, though it was far from the truth. Sure, she would love to hear Emily say she was proud of her or even that she loved her. She couldn't remember the last time her mother had uttered those words. She probably hadn't been more then five years old. But still, although she was a grown adult, those words would mean a lot to her.

"Yeah," Lorelai finally answered her daughter. "I think I would like that."

Rory drained the rest of her coffee. "Well, who knows? Things may change or they might go back to the way they were. With us Gilmores', no one ever knows."

Lorelai smiled. "Yeah, no one ever knows…"

Reaching for Luke's bag, she pulled out a muffin. "Okay, so… which one do you want? He brought blueberry, chocolate, lemon poppy seed… well, all of them I guess."

Lorelai scoffed. "You even need to ask? It hasn't been that long since we've seen each other. Relinquish the chocolate," she said, holding out her hand.

Rory grinned and did as she was told.

"This is really good," Lorelai murmured, her mouth full. "God, I've missed his food…"

Rory raised a brow. "More then you've missed him?"

"No… well, yes, they kinda go together, ya know? Luke wouldn't be the same without the food and the food wouldn't even exist without Luke." Her daughter stared at her with playfully concerned eyes. "Hey!" Lorelai quickly defended. "It's early yet, and I haven't even had my second cup!"

----

Thank you Morgann for editing this!

Please review!


	21. A Not So Good Day

A/N: Sorry 'bout the delay, again… I haven't really had the time to fix this up the way I wanted it, but it'll have to do. I want to thank my sister for editing and apologize for my consent nagging.

**Chapter 21: A not so good day… **

Seven times Luke dialed Lorelai's number and seven times he convinced himself she was fine before and hung up before pressing the last digit.

Rory was home- he knew she would call if something were wrong, but he wouldn't help but worry.

Maybe it was because they had gone so long without talking… all those days, weeks, months of her not coming into the diner, or seeing her at the store… it had eaten him, not seeing her. He would've been more worried about her during their dark period if it had not been for Babette and Miss Patty. If it wasn't for their constant chatter about Lorelai and Christopher, he wouldn't have known she was still alive. That's how isolated she had become.

And now, the two of them… it just seemed so_ right_. To him at least- he had no idea how Lorelai felt about the situation.

He heard the diner bells ring as he stepped out of the storage room and he quickly looked up; he wasn't sure why. He didn't expect to see her here. He'd left breakfast and coffee at her house, so she probably wouldn't be in for that. And the memorial service was at noon, so she wouldn't be in for lunch either. He wasn't sure when or if she would ever be in again.

It was an out of breath Miss Patty. Instantly worried it may have something to do with the woman he couldn't stop thinking about, he met her half way.

"What's wrong?"

Miss Patty placed her hand over her heart in an attempt to calm herself down. It took her a full minute before she could get the words out. "Sookie… fell… she can't… we-"

"Slow down, Patty, I can't understand what you're saying," Luke ordered. "Now, what happened to Sookie?"

Miss Patty normal breathing returned. "Sookie had a fall at the Inn while getting ready for the memorial service today- she's okay, just unable to cook. But she's only made the cake. The food hasn't even been started and Sookie won't let anyone do it but you, Luke. You have to make all the food for this."

Luke opened his mouth to object, but Patty was smart enough to continue.

"This is for Lorelai," she reminded him. "This is for Lorelai and Paul Anka. You don't want her going to this thing and not having any food to eat, would you?"

"Fine," he caved. "I'll do it. What do I have to make? I'm not making anything fancy."

"Burgers and hotdogs should be fine," Patty assured him. "Sookie knows Lorelai loves them, so she's okay with it."

Nodding, Luke made his way back behind the counter and grabbed his notepad and pen. "How many people are coming to this thing anyway?" He asked.

"No more than a hundred."

Luke shook his head- he wasn't surprised. That was Stars Hallow for you. "Are you sure Sookie didn't fall just because she didn't want to cook food for that many people?"

----

Lorelai tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear as she stared at her reflection. Rory had done her makeup, since she was unable to even put on her lipstick properly.

Taking a step back from the mirror, she smoothed out her long black skirt she couldn't remember buying, let alone, wearing before. She didn't look half bad. With her low cut black blouse and her hair down, she looked like she normally would on any workday, except for the colors of course. She had thought about wearing something bright and cheerful, but decided against it. Though it was a dog's memorial, people would expect her dress to be black. At least she wasn't all black; her blue sling did add a splash of color.

She heard her daughter call her from downstairs. With one last look, she headed down there; Rory met her at the bottom with her purse.

"Thanks, hon," she said as she slipped it over her shoulder. "Are we all ready to go?"

Rory nodded. "Yeah, I saw Luke pull up a second ago. I thought for once in our lives it'd be good to be on time."

Lorelai smiled. "Yeah, probably."

Someone knocked at the door. Giving her daughter a smile, Lorelai moved to answer it.

"Hey Luke," she greeted in an overly cheerful voice.

Luke had obviously not been expecting her chipper mood as he stared at her. "Hey, Lorelai…" he replied awkwardly. "Um, you two ready?"

"Yep," Lorelai nodded, not bothering to say anything else. She walked past him and made her way to his truck. She looked back for a second and saw Luke ask Rory something. She sighed. She just wanted today to be better then the last few had been. She didn't need or want anyone's pity; though she knew there was no way to get around it. She could only grin and bear it.

----

Lorelai stepped out of the truck and squared her shoulders. She was determined not to cry during the service. She was done with crying. She was done with all of it. No more crying for her, no more sadness. The old Lorelai was back and the old one was thrown into the garbage, kicking and screaming.

As she looked up at the Inn, her Inn, which she hadn't seen in days, she let out a sigh. It didn't look any different, only slightly unfamiliar. The last few days felt like years. She had never spent so much time away from the Dragonfly before, and she really didn't see it in her future either. Though it could be a handful at times, she rather enjoyed owning her own business. She was proud of Sookie and Michel for managing the place without her. Michel probably drove the chef up the wall, and she him…

"Mom?"

Her daughter's worried voice brought her back to reality. She wasn't here to work or even to visit her friends- she was here to say goodbye to her dog.

Lorelai accepted Rory's outstretched hand and gave it a tight squeeze. "I'm okay," she assured, her voice betraying her words. She could already feel the tears she swore she wouldn't have escape her eyes. Damn uncontrollable things.

Rory smiled slightly. "Are you ready to go in?"

Sucking in a breath, she nodded. "Yeah," Lorelai said softly. "Yeah, I'm ready."

She let her daughter lead her up the porch and into the sitting room. Her eyes immediately fell upon the rows and rows of chairs, almost everyone filled with one friend or another. Lorelai almost gasped at the sight of a blown-up photo of her and Paul Anka, sitting in the gazebo. Luke had taken that picture only a month before they broke up.

"Mom, you sure you're okay?"

Lorelai was pulled from her thoughts once again. She nodded. "Yes, Rory, don't worry about me." She pulled her hand away and placed it on the young Gilmore's shoulder. "Now, why don't you go save us a seat? I'll be right there."

Rory nodded. She knew perfectly well that there was no need to save the seats, but she did as she was told and moved to the front row.

Wiping away an escaped tear, Lorelai kicked herself mentally. She would not cry… She would not cry…

"Lorelai," Luke's comforting voice called as he moved over to her. "Do you want a moment? We don't have to start this thing until you're ready…"

Lorelai put on a brave smile. "I can do this, Luke," she assured him. "I just need a moment, that's all. Go ahead, I'll be right there."

"Okay," he finally said. With a last look at her, he took a seat by Rory.

Lorelai gazed over the room once more, taking in the dozens and dozens of flowers she didn't remember seeing when she had first entered. She had to keep in mind to thank Sookie and Michel later for doing this.

Gathering up all her courage, she walked down the rows of foldaway chairs and took a seat between her daughter and Luke.

Miss Patty had gone up and told the story about when she first saw Lorelai eyeing the dog, and how she interfered, trying to convince Lorelai not to adopt the creature. She admitted she was wrong and that Lorelai was the best owner that Paul Anka could ever have possibly had.

Babette had talked about dog-sitting Paul Anka and how she loved it.

Taylor said he liked the dog because he didn't use the bathroom outside of his store as so many other dogs did.

Kirk even told a short story about his encounter with the animal. A few other people also said a few words, people who really didn't even know Paul Anka, but it was still nice to hear. Rory had gone up after all of them and told a short story. When she finished, she asked her mom if she wanted to say anything. Lorelai wasn't sure how long ago that had been. Her daughter's words still echoed in her head, bouncing off the walls of her brain.

"Lorelai?" Luke finally asked after a long moment of silence. He leaned closer. "Are you all right?"

Lorelai looked up, her eyes glistening with tears. Ignoring Luke's question for a mere second, she turned to her daughter who still stood at the podium. "Yeah," she replied, her voice sounding weak. She slowly rose from her chair; smoothing out her skirt, she made her way over to Rory.

Rory stared at her mother, but didn't say anything. She silently went back to her seat.

Lorelai cleared her throat and tapped on the microphone, making sure it was still working. "Um," she started, tucking a hair behind her ear. "I haven't prepared a speech and probably couldn't read it anyway because of the damn blurry vision I seem to be having now. So, please bear with me while I ramble on. Um, I first met Paul Anka at a pet fair. His name was actually Coco and I slowly worked him up to Paul Anka. Um, I got him even though everyone who knows me knew I probably shouldn't. I'm not good with animals, but when Coco gave me his, well, puppy eyes I knew I had to have him."

She took a deep breath and bowed her head. " Coco, now Paul Anka, was, I admit, a very unusual dog. But he was well worth it. Paul Anka was there for me in a way no human could possibly be. We were really close, or, at least I was to him, I'm not sure about him, for all I know he could have hated me. But that's um, that's beside the point."

Lorelai wiped away a tear and sniffed. "Paul Anka was always there for me, no matter what I was going through, and trust me, I went through a lot." She smiled slightly as she saw her daughter's guilty eyes as she remembered their horrible fight. "Although I'm horrible with pets, like I already said, I thought I was doing well with him."

"Paul Anka didn't like normal dog toys. He was scared of popcorn, pickles, peas, tissue holders, paperbacks, framed pictures, lint. He was also scared if you drank in front of him or petted him with your watch hand. He wouldn't eat in front of you, and he preferred to do it in the dark. He was very self-conscious that way. He'd get scared if you woke him up and he was scared with words that began with the letter 'Q'."

Lorelai waited until the small crowd stopped laughing before she continued, a real smile spreading over her face. "He was scared of stairs- I'd have to cover them with something or carry him over them. He was also scared of mailboxes. He could somehow close the door to my jeep, I never did find out how. And worse- he'd lock it, normally with my keys in it. It was one hell of an explanation when I got to work late. Um, Paul Anka liked having his own chair. I taught Paul Anka to love the word pizza and hate the word salad… he was a great learner."

Straightening up, she took a hold of the edges of the podium. "I could name another billion things that Paul Anka was afraid of or didn't like. If there was such a thing as a doggy physiatrist, I know Paul Anka would be visiting him twice a day... And I guess what I'm trying to say with this very long speech is that... I'm really going to miss him. I'm going to miss everything about him, even the annoying stuff." She looked up as she tried to hold back her tears. "And…" her voice cracked and she couldn't continue. Instead, she buried her face into her hand.

Rory hesitated before hurrying over to her mom. She wrapped an arm around her and led her out of the room…

----

"I didn't think it'd be this hard," Lorelai admitted as Rory helped her to sit on the front porch steps. "I thought I could handle this- I really did. But I can't. I can't do this, Rory; I can't handle these happy memories of Paul Anka right now. I shouldn't even be trying to be happy, should I? I mean, my dog just died! Shouldn't I-"

"Shh, mom," Rory cut in, her voice soothing. "Mom, you have a right to feel however you want to feel. If you want to feel happy, then that's great, feel happy. The sooner you get back to your life, the better. But if you're not ready for all this, that's fine. Take your time. Whatever you decide is okay. I'll help you in whatever way I can… just let me help, please."

Lorelai smiled fondly at her daughter. It seemed just like yesterday when she was the one comforting Rory, and now it was the other way around. When had her daughter suddenly become a woman?

"Thank you, sweetie," she said. "Did I ever tell you how good you are to me?"

"All the time," Rory replied, sweeping aside her bangs.

"Good."

"Have I told you lately how much you mean to me, mom?"

"Only about a billion times while I was stuck in that damn hospital bed." She smiled through her tears. "But I wouldn't mind hearing it again."

Rory chuckled and wrapped her arm around her mother's shoulder, pulling her closer. "I love you, mom. I love you more then I could love anything or anyone- that includes coffee. You are a very special woman and it's not just me saying it: you're special to everyone. We all love you."

"Thanks, kiddo." Lorelai pulled her daughter into a tight hug. "I don't deserve you."

"Of course you don't. But because I'm such a great daughter, I have to be nice to you. And that's only because no one else wants to be- I make them all pretend we all love you. But the truth is, we can't stand you," Rory joked.

"Nice to know," Lorelai muttered. "I love to know that I'm hated."

"Well, I didn't say we hated you, only that we didn't like you."

Lorelai grinned. "Thanks, now I feel _oh _so much better."

"That's what I'm here for."

"God, I love you kid."

----

See, like I said, not the best chapter but I have written worse. Okay then, there's only one thing left to do… review. :)


	22. Shiny Little Light Thingies

A/N: Okay, here's a longer chapter to hopefully make up for my slow updates. Thanks Morgann for editing!

**Chapter 22: Shiny little light thingies… **

Her world wasn't making sense to her anymore. Everything seemed out of place. The music playing was unfamiliar and not appealing to her ears, the smoke that burned her eyes was not her idea of fun, nor was the consent nagging of the various men to buy her a drink or take her home. These were all things she had grown rather unaccustomed to ever since she had been pregnant with Rory. Sure, once she turned twenty-one, she would occasionally leave Rory in the care of her boss Mia, and would hit a couple of bars with Sookie, but it'd been years since those days. And quite honestly, she hadn't enjoyed them much then either. She'd rather spend the evening with her daughter, eating junk food and watching old movies instead of hanging out at someplace like this. But tonight was different. Tonight, this was the only place she wanted to be.

Lorelai picked up another glass of vodka and drowned the entire thing in one gulp. She stared at the empty glass for a moment before slamming it back down onto the counter.

"Hey!" She shouted to the bartender; once getting his attention, she gestured to her empty cup. "I need another one."

The bartender, who had been watching and talking to her throughout the night, moved over to her. "I think you've had more then enough for one night," he said, polishing his counter a she spoke. "Why don't you let me call someone for you? Give me a friend's number."

Lorelai shook her head. "No, noooo, I'm good. Just give me another one… 'kay? I just need _one_ more drink and I'll be done for the night," she said, her speech starting to slur a bit. "_Please._"

The obviously concerned man simply shook his head, refusing to give in to the woman's begging. He shoved his rag into the back of his pocket, cleared her cup away and placed a bowl of peanuts in front of her. "I'm sorry, ma'am," he apologized. "But I can't serve you anymore- you're completely wasted. I know you've had a couple rough nights lately and all, but I don't think having the worst hangover in history is gonna help. Who do you want me to call to pick you up? Got a friend that lives nearby?"

Lorelai sighed. She hated people like this when she was drunk. She could easily hold at least one more drink before she stopped for the night. She had, after all, had several bad Friday nights that alcohol could only fix.

"Fine," she surrendered as she grabbed her purse and pulled out some money. "Here." She dropped the wad on the counter and slid off the barstool, swaying a bit.

"Hey!" The man exclaimed, grabbing her arm in attempts to help balance her. "You're not going anywhere. How 'bout I call you a cab?"

Lorelai pulled her arm away from his strong grip. "I'm just going to the bathroom," she said, walking in that direction, a bit tipsy.

The bartender sighed. He'd dealt with too many people like her to know that they were in no condition to get home safety on their own. He glanced at the purse she had left on the table. Hesitantly, he reached inside and fished out her wallet, hoping to find some kind of contact card…

----

Lorelai stumbled out of the bathroom nearly a half-hour later, feeling worse then she had when she had entered the room. She thought she was forgetting something, but she couldn't remember what- her mind was like a jigsaw puzzle that she couldn't quite put together. She was about ready to head out the front door when she froze at the sight of someone. Someone she had not been expecting to see tonight.

"Luke…?"

He stood just outside the bathroom; his arms were crossed over his chest and his face full of concern for his friend. He didn't move right away- instead, he took the moment to carefully examine her. She seemed to be okay physically, except for her drunken state part obviously. She didn't look good. Her hair was a mess and her mascara was running, a definite sign that she'd been crying. She simply looked bad, like she had, yet again, a rough night.

"Lorelai, what are you doing here?" He finally allowed himself to ask, making sure to keep his voice calm. He shouldn't have left her at the house alone again, but she had been so insistent after the memorial service, he though giving her a little space might be a good thing. He could see know how wrong he had been.

Lorelai leaned against the wall for support. "What're you doing here, Luke?" she managed to get out.

"What am I doing here?" He shook his head. "What does it look like I'm doing? I just want to know how and _why_ you drove yourself all the way to Hartford to go to a bar. Lorelai, something could have happened."

"I took a cab," she said quietly.

Luke stared at her. "You took a cab to Hart-" He stopped himself from finishing his sentence.

The Gilmore swayed slightly; she let herself slowly slid down along the wall into a sitting position on the ground. "I needed to clear my head…" She replied in a small voice, sounding more like a little kid getting caught with her hand in the cookie jar, rather than the grown woman she was. "I think I may have cleared it a little too much- there's nothing but cobwebs up there. I can't stay focused on anything." She hiccupped. "I don't know what I'm doing here…"

Luke moved over and offered his hand. "Here, let me take you home."

Shaking her head, she laughed slightly. "I'm not ready to go yet."

"I think you are," Luke said wryly, grabbing a hold of Lorelai's hand and began to pull her to her feet. "You're going to have an appointment with a toilet."

"Opsy-daisy." Lorelai muttered as she made it to her feet. "Whoa, dizzy."

Luke grabbed her arm before she could topple over. He had never seen her so wasted before. Sure, over the years he'd seen her drunk a few times, but never like this. "Lorelai," he said, once she got her balance. "Come on, let's go."

"But…"

"No buts this time, it's time to go."

She shook her head and tried to free herself from his grip. "I think I forgot something."

"You did, your purse," he replied as he walked over to the counter and accepted the purse from the bartender. "Thanks for calling," he said quietly.

The bartender nodded, eyeing Lorelai. "Just take care of her, okay? She doesn't seem to be doing so well."

Luke wondered what Lorelai may have said to the guy, but he merely gave him a small nod before leading Lorelai out of the bar.

She pulled away from him once they were outside. Leaning against the building, she wrapped her arms around her body and shivered. "You're a mean man, Luke Danes," she muttered under her breath.

"Yes, I am. And you're one very drunk Lorelai Gilmore," he informed her. "Where's your jacket? Did you leave it inside?"

"Yep." She shivered, and as he turned towards the door to retrieve it, she quickly added, "I mean inside of my house."

"You shouldn't be outside without a jacket, Lorelai," he scolded her. "You've already been at the hospital this week; you don't need to add pneumonia on top of it all."

Lorelai giggled slightly, but said nothing to defend herself.

"Come on," he ordered, taking her arm once again, he pulled her away from her support.

"Where we goin'?"

Luke led her towards his truck. "I'm taking you home."

"I don't want to go home," she whined. "I'm not ready to go home yet. Home is depressing. Home is sad. I don't want anymore sadness. Luke, please don't make me go home."

Luke sighed. "Lorelai," he tried, trying to sound reasonable, "you can't stay out here all night."

"But I can't ever go back to my house!" She cried loudly. "Someone died in it. I will never be able to step inside of it again. I'm gonna sell it. Yeah, that's what I'll do- I'll sell it to someone. Hey, Luke, do you want to buy a house? Yeah! That's an idea! Buy my house and I'll buy your apartment." She laughed at her idea, but Luke didn't seem to find it funny.

Luke paused as they reached his truck to open the door for him. He tried to help the drunk woman in, but she refused.

"Wanna buy my house?" She continued. Luke opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off. "Oh, of course you wouldn't. You don't want to move into a place like that, such horrible memories. Hey, do you remember the color we first painted the upstairs bathroom? Horrible red…"

He stared at her. "Lorelai," he began. "I-"

"My house is just bad luck. Do you know why? Because everything bad happens in that house, everything goes wrong because of that stupid damn house. Wanna know why? 'Cause when I first moved in I didn't love it, and it knows I didn't love it, so it cursed me with bad luck."

Luke wondered if she realized how ridiculous she sounded when drunk. "Lorelai, that house did not curse you because you didn't like it. It's a wonderful house."

She hiccupped. "Yeah," she nodded, staring at nothing in particular. "It was a good house."

"Here, come on; let's get you in the truck." Once again, he attempted to get her into the vehicle, and once again she fought back. "Lorelai, we need to get you home."

"What are those little shiny thingies?" She asked, the topic of her house quickly forgotten as she stared up at the dark sky. In her mind it must have seemed logical that the two topics were connected. "They're really pretty."

Luke quickly glanced up before turning back to Lorelai. "Those are stars."

She let out a small chuckle. "That's funny," she said. "Stars like in Stars Hallow. _Stars _Hollow. Who would have ever thought…?"

"Yeah, odd, huh?" Luke said, deciding to play along.

"They're really pretty and shiny."

"Yes they are," he agreed.

Lorelai nudged him slightly. "Hey, you wanna catch me one?" She asked, taking her eyes off the sky and turning to him. "You wanna get me a star?"

Luke couldn't help it; he reached out and pushed a piece of her hair away. "Lorelai…"

"You don't have a plane."

Luke blinked. "What?"

"To get a star," she said matter-of-factly. "You need a plane to catch a star; it's too far away to jump. Oooh! Unless you had a trampoline!" Her eyes lit up. "Hey! Do you have a trampoline? We could jump up and catch them!"

Shaking his head slightly, Luke pushed her into the car, despite her protests. "We're going home," he repeated, as he buckled her in. Shutting the door, he hurried over to the passenger's seat and jumped in. "Do you have everything?" He watched her fumble around with various items in her purse, as if looking for something.

"No," she replied simply.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for my wallet," Lorelai replied, pulling out the black leather pouch. "Ah-ha!" She smiled victoriously.

Luke stared at her. "What do you need a wallet for?"

"This," she said, pulling out a small picture and handing it over to him. "This is my daughter, Rory. Cute, isn't she?"

Luke held onto the photo for a moment. "Lorelai, I know your daughter."

"What?" She asked, turning to him. Her smile quickly faded and her confused expression took over. "How do you know my Rory?"

"I've known her for years," Luke said gently.

Lorelai took the photo back and stared at it. "Oh, yeah…" she said, as if she realized how silly she was sounding. She stuffed everything back into her purse and straightened up.

"Are you ready to go?" Luke asked, hoping her little rants were over.

She nodded.

They drove in silence for a good minute before Lorelai asked, "What are those little lights again?"

----

"I'm not as think as you drunk I am."

Luke looked down at the woman his arm was supporting, as she continued to insist she wasn't drunk.

"If you can't even get that sentence out properly, I think it's safe to say you're wrong."

Luke tightened his grip around Lorelai's waist as she began to slip from his grasp. Getting her home wasn't as easy as he first anticipated. The Gilmore was extremely drunk, adding that on top of her already hyper self, this was turning into one very unique night. The drive home hadn't been so bad until he'd pulled up to her street and she insisted on walking the rest of the way, claiming she would shout 'Kidnapper' out the window if he didn't oblige. He did.

Since she couldn't stand without help, he was helping her home, her body leaning against his as she dragged her feet; he thought it would take years before they would make it to her home. When he spotted her house, he felt a sense of relief wash over him.

"Hey, look, it's my house!" The intoxicated woman declared, pointing to her house as though he couldn't see it.

Luke rolled his eyes and tried to speed up their pace. "Yes, Lorelai," he said, talking to her as if she were a small child in need of assurance. "We're almost home, so you can go to bed and try and get at least a few hours of sleep before you wake up with a very nasty hangover."

"I'm not ready to go to bed yet," she protested loudly, loud enough that Luke knew it wouldn't slip by Babette's ears. "The night's still young! We should go dancing or something. Hey! That's an idea! Wanna go dancing, Luke? Do you? 'Cause you can dance like no man can dance. Well, except for Gene Kelly, I've always liked his dancing… it was like watching a piece of heaven. Especially in _Take Me Out To The Ball Game_- he was great in that one! Such a nice smile… Ooh! Frank Sinatra could really dance in that one too, although I like his voice better then his dancing. I really liked him in _It Happened in Brooklyn_… that's a funny movie. Hey, Luke, have you seen that movie?"

Luke found it intriguing how Lorelai could complain about going to bed, jump over to dancing, Gene Kelly and then to Sinatra all in one breath. It was a talent no one else could or would ever possess.

"It's a really good movie, maybe not as good as _Anchors Away_ though- the little kid was really cute in that one. Hey, did you know Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra were in several movies together, isn't that cool? They were probably good friends…"

As they reached the stairs to her house, Lorelai pulled away from Luke before he even had a chance to react. He tried to grab her before she fell onto the steps, but failed. She didn't seem to notice. She sat up, a huge smile across her face as she started to laugh hysterically.

"You know what this reminds me of?" She asked him.

After Luke helped her into a sitting position, he looked into her eyes. "What?"

Lorelai's grin faded as she shook her head slowly, confused by her own words. "I dunno…" she said quietly as she touched her head. "I don't remember what I was going to say…"

"Why don't we get you to bed, okay?"

"No."

Luke knew it was pointless arguing with a stubborn drunken woman, especially if she was a Gilmore, but he tried anyway. "_Lorelai_…"

"You're a party pooper, Luke Danes," she declared, waving a finger at him. "You're a big, fat…" she hesitated a moment, as if not sure what she planned on saying. "Party pooper..."

Luke grinned slightly as she spoke in her very serious tone. "And you're totally wasted," he retorted playfully. Holding out his hand, he asked, "Are you ready to go in?"

Lorelai hesitantly took the hand, not saying a word.

As her cold slender hand slid into his, Luke pulled her up and helped her into the house, kicking the door closed behind him. "Come on," he said as she began to pull away from him. "We're going upstairs, okay?"

Lorelai had no choice but to let him lead her. She let out a long puff of air as she climbed the stairs. "Luke?" She said softly. "Your breath stinks."

"That's your breath, Lorelai," Luke reminded her.

Lorelai covered her mouth with her hand and breathed into it. Her eyes widened with disgust. "Oh God, you're right. My breath stinks too." She wiped her hand against her jeans and sighed.

"Lorelai, you need to move your feet." Luke said as he gently began to tug around her waist, trying to get her to finish the last few steps.

"I'm too tired to climb…"

Luke rolled his eyes mentally. He knew he'd be there all night if he didn't just pick her up and carry her to the bedroom, so that's exactly what he did, she was too out of it to even protest. He slipped his hands beneath her, waiting until she wrapped her arm around his neck, before he continued sideways up the stairs.

"This is fun," she commented, sounding as though she were on a carnival ride. "Go faster."

Shaking his head, Luke stopped just outside her bedroom. "Here we are," he announced, pushing open the door with his back. Stepping into the room, he moved over to the bed and gently laid her down.

"Ah, so comfy," she said, rolling onto her good side.

Luke smiled slightly as he pulled off her heels and pulled the blanket over her. "Goodnight, Lorelai." He turned the light off as he stepped out of the room.

"Wait!"

Luke poked his head through the door. "What?"

"Are you leaving?" Her voice was full of confusion that masked over some sort of disappointment.

"Um, well…" Luke started, uncomfortably, stepping back into the room. "I was going to stay on the couch in the living room. Why? Do you want me to go?" He didn't know why he even bothered to ask- there was no way he was leaving her home alone in this condition. And he didn't think it was fair to wake Babette up to do it for him, although he knew she wouldn't mind.

"No, it's just…" She trailed off as she broke eye contact.

"It's what?"

Lorelai sighed. "It's… I dunno, I guess I just wanted to thank you, Luke." She smiled slightly, though not directly at him, it was meant for him. "You've done so much, for both Rory and I and I've treated you so… what's the word? Oh, horribly. You may have thought I didn't want you here, but I do, Luke. I've always have, probably always will."

Once again she surprised him by the sudden new topic. As much as he liked hearing her comforting words and as much as they needed to resolve their issues, this wasn't the time. This was the drunken side of Lorelai talking- she wouldn't remember it in the morning and although her words may be true, he couldn't let her continue. Instead, he reached over and put a finger to her lips, silencing her.

"Lorelai, go to sleep. I'll be here in the morning if you still want to talk."

She caught his hand before he pulled away completely. "I want to talk now."

"Lorelai, this isn't the time. You're not yourself."

A grin spread across her lips. "Of course this is me talking, silly, who else do you think it would be?"

"I meant that you're drunk," he corrected, trying to break free from her hold, but she only held tighter. "You're not going to remember this in the morning."

"Then you don't know me very well, burger boy," she teased. "I remember everything."

"Lorelai," he started uneasily.

She pulled him onto the bed, almost causing him to fall on of her. "I lied to you," she bluntly stated as the bed sank, bringing them even closer. She stared at him with her big blue innocent eyes; looking rather scared, possibly terrified and he didn't know the reason for it.

"What do you mean?" he finally asked, seeing she wasn't going to let go of him anytime soon.

She looked down. "When my mother came over, we didn't talk about mother-daughter stuff," she said. "We talked about you."

Luke raised his brows, intrigued by her words. He wondered why Emily and Lorelai had talked about him, but he wasn't about to ask. If she was only revealing this because of her intoxicated state, he'd feel like he was talking advantage of her, which he would have been. Not to mention if she did remember tonight the next morning, he didn't want her thinking he tried to pry into her affairs.

"Lorelai, you don't have to tell me anything, it's okay."

"I want to tell you," she insisted. This time she looked at him with possibly the most serious expression he had ever seen on her face. If he didn't know any better, he could swear she was sober and well aware she was spilling everything to him. "When my mom came over, we talked about you. She admitted she was wrong about you-" She flashed him her 'duh' look, "and she said that she had thought I could do better with someone else- someone rich and 'well bred'- only to find out that I had the perfect guy all along… until I lost him anyway. Um… did you know you went up and beyond the call of duty as an ex-fiancée? _Yes_, my mom said that."

Lorelai stopped and let out a little sigh as she absently picked at her chipped nail polish. "And she's right, Luke. My mother was right. I had no right to ask you to do anything. I was the one who broke it off, I was the idiot who went and slept with an old boyfriend. Hell, I was the one who married him. I was wrong and I know it. And I'm so, _so_ sorry. I know how much I must have hurt you. I wish I could take it back, I really do. But I can't. And not a day goes by where I don't think about the pain I must have caused you… how much pain I caused for myself."

Luke reached over and took her hand once she was done. "Lorelai, what happened to us is in the past. We were both stupid. I was the one who pushed you away in the first place, but we can't blame ourselves forever over what happened. We're friends now; friends are always there for each other. I'll be here whenever you need me, all right?"

She smiled slightly. "I know, I just…" she bit her lip. "I wish that it could have worked out between us, I really do. I don't think I truly ever loved anyone until you."

"Yeah," Luke agreed very quietly. "Hey-" he started, shaking away his thoughts, "why don't we finish this conversation tomorrow? You should try and get some sleep."

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, okay," she said, snuggling back into her covers. As she glanced out the window, a small smile spread across her face. "Hey, what are those shiny things in the sky?"

----

Okay, just so everyone's knows: I have never been drunk nor have I actually seen a drunk person before, so if all the scenes are a little pathetic, I'm sorry and please just bear with me.

As always, please review!


	23. Yhprum’s Law

A/N: You have no idea how sorry I am that it took me this long to update. I rewrote it because I thought you guys deserved a better chapter then I originally had. It's actually been written for a couple of days (beta: My bad. Playing auntie took precedence), but my sister hasn't had a chance to edit, and I haven't really bugged her (I must interject- _didn't bug me_? Which sister are you talking about?) because my other sister just had her baby and we're getting in the role of playing her favorite aunts. She's the sweetest thing! Anyway, I want to thank you all so much for your encouraging reviews and pointing out few mistakes along the way as it always help in the future. You guys are totally the best readers/reviewers ever, so this chapter is dedicated to all of you!

To justjean: I wanted to respond to your messages, but your PM feature is disabled so I couldn't. I just wanted to thank you personally for some of the kindest feedback I have ever received and probably will ever be given. So, thanks!

**Chapter 23**: **Yhprum's law**

Hammers.

Hammers and piercing nails. Hammers, nails, loud music and salt, rubbing deep into an already growing wound. That's how Lorelai felt when she opened her eyes the next morning, or rather, late that afternoon. Some person had left her curtains open, and the bright sunlight seemed to blind her; it took everything she had not to just scream at the unfairness of the day. Damn all bright lights- they could completely ruin any good day.

Lorelai could not for the life of her remember a worse hangover. She had woken up several hours ago and began to promptly vomit. Luke had been there to hold her hair back, or at least she thought he had- she couldn't actually recall the event, she only knew that it happened. She groaned aloud at the thought. Luke had once again rescued her, a true knight. He was probably getting rather tired of always having to play hero, yet he never complained.

She tried to sit up, but her body felt unnaturally heavy. Glancing at the clock, she wasn't very surprised to find out that the morning was already gone and night would be here before she even felt back to her normal self. Damn hangovers.

A loud noise from the kitchen startled her. It only took a moment though before she thought of Luke; he probably was still here, not wanting to leave her alone. A small grin appeared on her face at the mere thought.

Lorelai took a moment to gather herself before slowly swinging her legs over the bed. Though the worst of the hangover was gone, she still felt like crap. She glanced down at her funeral attire that she ended up sleeping in; it was completely wrinkled and had a small patch of an unknown substance on it which emanated a rather disgusting smell. Stumbling out of bed, she grabbed her medicine and swallowed a few pills without water. Hopefully it would relieve the pain and help with the headache.

Grabbing a fresh pair of jeans and her closest t-shirt, she went into the bathroom.

It took her several minutes before she exited with clean clothes on. Running her fingers through her hair, she combed out some of the tangles before picking up a comb and finishing the rest. Once she convinced herself she looked okay, she slipped on some flats and headed downstairs.

Before she even reached the last step, her nostrils were immediately filled with the scent of a traditional breakfast of bacon, eggs, pancakes and… coffee? She recognized the scent right away; it was Luke's heavenly brew. He had definitely stayed the night again.

She entered the kitchen in time to see Luke flip a pancake into the air and catch it again with the skillet. Lorelai grinned.

"Wow, you're a true Elizabeth Lane."

Luke looked up. "Hey," he greeted, setting the frying pan down. "Are you feeling better?"

She groaned and lowered herself to the table. Luke set a plate of pancakes in front of her. "My headache's slowly killing me," she admitted. "I think I had a wee bit too much to drink last night."

"I'd say more then a wee bit," Luke retorted, turning of the burner as he finished up with the last pancake and joined her at the table.

She groaned again. "Please tell me I didn't start singing _Row, row your boat?_"

"No, you didn't start singing," Luke assured her.

"Thank God." Lorelai muttered as she helped herself to the coffee. "So, if I didn't start singing, what exactly did I do? I didn't hide Babette's gnomes again, did I?"

"You hid Babette's gnomes?"

"_Once_," she said defensively. "I was kinda out of it. There was this bad party at my parent's house and I had a little too much to drink."

"A little?" Luke asked, brows raised.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Fine, it was more then a little. But it wasn't like… I dunno, I'm too tired to come up with something snappy. Someone is up in my head, building a house and is using too many damn nails. I can't think."

"Want some aspirin?" He made a move to get up.

Lorelai shook her head. "Already took some, but it's not working. He'll go away when the house is done."

"How do you know it's a guy?" Luke inquired, bemused.

"'Cause, a woman would know better then to mess with me this early... Not to mention the super loud music that's playing is all wrong for a woman. Nope, it's definitely a guy with some seriously bad taste."

"Okay," he humored her.

Lorelai sighed and laid her head against the table.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

She didn't answer him. When Luke looked at her, he found her watching him. "What?" he asked.

"Things seem normal again," she said quietly.

Lorelai could tell her question took him by surprise, but he quickly recovered. "Well, I don't know if I would use the term normal, but things have been better… between us."

Nodding slowly, she sighed. "I guess we haven't really talked about _us_," Lorelai said as she picked up a piece of bacon and started shredding it.

"Well, you did kinda mention something last night."

She smiled slightly. "Whatever I said last night… I dunno- I was out of it. I don't remember a thing. We might have discussed a way to kidnap Taylor and even carried it out- I wouldn't remember."

"I know."

She sighed. "Still…"

"Lorelai, do you really think talking about it is going to change anything?" He asked somewhat uncomfortably as he squirmed in his seat, obviously not knowing how she would respond. "It happened. We know it happened and we know what happened. Talking about us isn't going to change anything."

"Yeah," Lorelai agreed uncertainly. It wasn't going to change anything? Did that mean that nothing would change between them? They could go back to being friends but nothing more? "I guess not… I mean, like you said, it happened. It's in the past. We need to let it go."

"Good." Luke nodded.

"Good." She agreed. "So… we're cool then?"

"Yep."

Lorelai stared at him. "No more hard feelings between us about anything?"

"Not on my end."

"Nor mine."

He smiled. "Good."

"So that's just it? We're… what? Fine now? We'll just go back to being friends? I go to the diner and you serve me coffee? That's it?"

He hesitated. "If that's what you want…" Luke didn't look at her as he softly added, "I don't want that to be it."

"Me either," she admitted. "It's better then nothing, but…"

He nodded. "Yeah, but why have only that when we both want something more? Lorelai… I never… I never stopped caring about you. I don't think I ever could." He exhaled sharply. "I'd like to give this another shot; even if it doesn't work out, I have to know I did everything I could."

Lorelai blinked back a tear. "I want this to work more then anything," she said earnestly. "I think we can do it, Luke. Put the past behind us and just live our lives together. I really do."

"I think we can too. We have to. My life has been miserable without you."

"And mine was any better?" She asked. "I got married to my daughter's father and old boyfriend; you ask anyone and they'll tell you that's a big no-no."

He chuckled slightly.

"It's not funny," Lorelai insisted. "I wasn't ready to be married then- well, not to him anyway. But I think I am now… no," she corrected herself, "I _know_ I am. I've never been so sure about anything in my life."

"… Really?"

"Honestly truly." She reached out and took his hand. It felt so perfect, so natural in hers.

Luke didn't say anything but covered her hand, his silent agreement.

There was a moment of silence, a short period of time where neither of them talked or moved; they simply stared at each other, small smiles on their faces. The space between the two of them grew smaller as they leaned closer. And before either of them knew it, the space was gone. The kiss wasn't a passionate one, nor was it a simple peck. It was almost like a handshake over a deal they had made- except better. It was their confirmation that they were doing the right thing, that both of them wanted this badly enough to try again.

Lorelai was the first to pull away; she took a few deep breaths of air to fill her lungs needs. Never had something felt so right to her. She wanted to pull him back, but she didn't, she simply smiled.

"Wow…" was all Luke could say.

"We've still got it," Lorelai joked. "After what, eight months? I guess it's something we'll never loose."

"I hope not."

She chuckled slightly. "So… what now? You up for a movie or something?"

"Do you really want to see a movie with that headache of yours?" Luke questioned.

"You know, I almost completely forgot about it but now that you remind me, it hurts like hell. Thanks a lot." She playfully whacked his arm and reached for her coffee.

Luke frowned. "You know that stuff is going to kill you…"

"How else am I going to keep you around if I didn't have my coffee to drink? You wouldn't be able to lecture me about the evil and dangers of coffee and red meat… how would we ever get to spend time together?" She took a drink. "You need to think about these things."

He nodded. "Hey, um, this is a random question but it's been bugging me for days now. Why have you been hiding your dirty dishes around the house? I found a ton of silver wear in the fireplace this morning, plates on top of the fridge, pans stuffed under the sink... What happened to liking to wash dishes?"

"Um…" She looked down slightly. "I guess I kinda stopped liking that about the same time we broke up."

"You've been hiding them for almost a year?" Luke asked, astonished.

"No, since Christopher left." She sighed. "As stupid as it may sound, I didn't want to do the dishes because they weren't my dishes…"

He raised his eyebrows, confused. "Wha-…? Oh, did Christopher bring them?"

"No, no," she shook her head. "No, those weren't Christopher's… they were ours. The ones we picked out together to match the kitchen we remodeled… for us. Chris washed them, but after he left, I just… didn't."

"Oh…"

"Yeah." She shook her head. "Ridiculous, right? I mean seriously, they're just dumb dishes."

"I don't really find it all that ridiculous," he admitted. "Of course that would never stop me from having something clean to eat from, but we're talking about the woman who, after seeing Charlotte's web, wouldn't eat bacon for a month."

"Hey!" Lorelai cried out in defense. "Wilber is adorable! You can't eat something that cute."

Luke rolled his eyes but didn't say anything else.

"Besides," Lorelai countered. "You didn't eat bacon after watching that movie either."

"I never ate bacon to start with."

"Well how should I have known that?" She asked. "I don't know all your foods. You might eat horsemeat and I wouldn't know it… you don't eat horse, do you?"

He sighed. "No, Lorelai, I do not eat horses."

"Good, because that's against the law in some states." She grinned.

Luke rolled his eyes.

"I need more coffee," she said, pushing the mug towards him, hoping he'd oblige so she wouldn't have to get up.

"I got you something," he said suddenly. "I bought it back when you were in the hospital, but I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to give it to you or not."

Lorelai raised her brows. "What is it?" She asked. "You know me and gifts- I love them in all different shapes and sizes."

"Yeah, I know." He reached into his pocket and placed the object in front of her.

"Oh my God." She gasped slightly, taken aback by the stuffed twin of her recently deceased dog. "It… it looks just like him." She took it into her hands and smiled. "Thank you, Luke."

He shrugged. "I wasn't sure if you'd want it but… I'm glad you like it."

"Luke?" She asked, setting the dog aside and turning her focus onto him. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"What?"

"You've been here, day after day, hour after hour without any complaints. And I just thought, well, is there anything I can do for you?" She took a breath. "It seems like you're the only always coming to my rescue and I want it to be my turn now- not that I want anything bad to happen to you of course," she added quickly, "I just want to make you happy."

"You're doing it," he assured her. "Just letting me be in your life, that's all I want. That's all I need."

She stared at him, skeptical. "Luke… I never thought I would find a man. You know, the right man, the marrying type of man. I don't know why it took me so long to find what was right in front of me, but when I did, it changed my world. You told me I'd have it: the whole package, and I believed you, I still believe you. But I want that whole package to be with you, no one else. I had a preview with Christopher what it could have been like, and I know it's right. The timing may be wrong, but I want to take the step, make the leap, strap on the old ball in chain, whatever. I want to do it."

Luke sat there for a moment of stunned silence. "Are… are you asking me to marry you?"

"Uh… well-"

"Because if you are, I want to stop you right now."

Lorelai looked down, trying not to show the hurt in his words. He didn't want to marry her? After all they had talked about? Had she been reading him wrong? "Oh oka-"

"I think it's my turn to ask this time," Luke amended, quickly realizing how his words sounded.

A smile appeared on her face.

"I wanted to wait until it was the right time, you know? The perfect ring at the bottom of your champagne glass, or a thousand roses… something romantic, but you kinda jumped the gun on me, didn't you?" He couldn't help a smile at her apologetic face. "Okay, so I don't have a ring on me but, well, you already know what it looks like… I guess there's only four words left to say, huh?"

"Luke, you don't have to-"

"No, I do. I want to." He took her hand into his. "You know me- I'm not that good with all the romantic words or poems and stuff like that. So, I'm just going to come out and say it." He cleared his throat. "Lorelai Gilmore, will-"

"Yes."

"Will you let me finish?"

She nodded. "Sorry," she whispered.

"Lorelai Gilmore... will you marry me?"

She remained silent.

"Uh…" Luke said after a minute. "You can…"

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know I was allowed to talk yet." She smiled; leaning closer, her lips connected with his.

Luke pulled away slightly a while later. "Was that a yes?"

"You better believe it, buddy." She replied, capturing his lips once again.

"So how do you feel about eloping?"

----

Rory dropped her books onto her bed, to be abandoned until further notice. She sighed as she mentally reviewed what work she had left to do that evening. She had called in sick to the paper as she planned on visiting her mom that night. With Paris temporarily in charge she didn't doubt that the paper would go out as scheduled; she only wished she could be there to smooth over some ruffled feathers.

She had gathered the material she would need to write an article and was heading for the door when her cell phone rang. She sighed.

"Rory Gilmore."

"_Oh, listen to you answer in that professional voice,_" the person on the other line quipped.

She smiled. "Hey mom, what's up? I'm just on my way over there. Do you need me to pick you up anything? I can bring home tacos-"

"_As tempting as that sounds, don't worry about it. Actually, that's why I'm calling._" Lorelai paused. "_Not trying to sound like I'm banning you from your home, but… well, I am. Don't come home tonight, okay?_"

"Mom, is everything all right?" Rory asked, suddenly worried.

Her mom laughed. "_Yes, Rory. Everything is fine, perfect even._"

"And may I ask what has happened to make everything so perfect?"

"_Well… Luke and I had a talk._"

Rory's eyes widened. "Oh? And everything went well?" She checked. She wouldn't have thought the topic would have gone particularly well with either of them- maybe she had been wrong. "You sound happy, so it might have. Come on, spill it- I need details."

"_Well,_" Lorelai started hesitantly. "_I wanted to tell you in person, but who knows when that'll be?_"

"Yeah, especially if I'm being kicked out of my house." Rory rolled her eyes. "So?"

"_Luke and I… we kinda got engaged, again._"

Rory wanted to scream in delight, and she did. "That is so… oh my _god_! Mom! I'm so happy for you! You're happy about this, right? I mean, of course you're happy- I don't know why I asked that because you wouldn't be getting married if you weren't happy about it… right?"

The elder Gilmore chuckled. "_Yes, Rory. I'm very happy about this. It was kinda unexpected, but in a good way. We were just talking about how we both wanted an us, and the next thing you know we're making plans to get hitched. It felt like I was watching a movie or something, you know? When you've waited the entire time for the couple to get over themselves and get married? It was that sort of feeling but a hundred times better._"

"You didn't… you know, you weren't the one who asked again were you?" Rory asked. "Not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm just curious."

"_As a matter of fact, I wasn't the one who popped the question, though I guess technically I did, long story. Anyways, yes, Luke asked._"

Rory could swear she heard her mother's smile through the phone. "So, I'm going to be the maid of honor, right?"

"_Nah, I'm thinking about letting Emily have that position,_" Lorelai snorted. "_Of course you're going to be my maid of honor, do you even have to ask?_"

"I'm just checking," Rory defended herself.

"_And guess what? Luke, April and I are going bowling on Saturday. And yes, I know I can't bowl to save my life, and yes I do remember the time I threw the ball into the other person's lane which ruined the man's perfect three-hundred and was almost beat up, thank you for reminding me._"

"Uh… I didn't say anything."

"_I know, but you would have._"

"Fun sucker…" Rory murmured under her breath. "So, bowling huh?"

"_Yes, now you know my purpose in life,_" Lorelai joked. "_Okay, so, Luke's taking me to the alley tonight so I can have some practice and not look like a complete idiot in front of his daughter. What should I wear?_"

"Luke is taking you bowling tonight?" Rory asked astonished. "Even with your hurt shoulder?"

"… _Well, he didn't exactly _agree _to take me yet, but I'll talk him into it,_" her mother said confidently. "_He let me go to work today without any objections. Of course he wouldn't let me drive, but I'm totally fine not getting behind the wheel just yet. Not that I even have a wheel, mind you. That's another thing we're going to do- car shopping. Doesn't that sound like fun?_"

"You don't sound like it's going to be fun," Rory pointed out. "But you'll be with Luke, you can drive him crazy. What kind of car are you gonna get?"

"_I don't know… there are too many cars out there. Hopefully I'll know it when I see it, like the jeep._" Lorelai sighed. "_I'm going to miss that car._"

"It's been a good car," agreed Rory.

"_It has… do you know, in its entire life, it's probably only broken down a couple dozen times?_"

"Yeah, because a couple dozen times of breaking down is so normal." Rory rolled her eyes. "So, you and Luke… you're good?"

"_Yeah, we're definitely good._" Rory could hear the happiness in her voice."_I'm really excited, Rory. I think we can make it work out this time. All these years, I've never felt the way I feel about Luke, ever. Not even your dad. With Chris, I felt good, but I knew nothing could really happen between us- too bad I realized that a little too late, huh? But it doesn't matter, that's behind me. Now, the only thing I'm thinking about is moving forward._"

"You go girl," Rory cheered.

"_Okay, well, I guess I should be going now… I'll fill you in on all the details the next time I see you… I wouldn't want someone to accidentally listen in on this conversation. So, see you tonight?_"

"What about bowling and that other thing?" Rory inquired.

"_I meant after that. Since I've worked out so much, I'll probably need a lot of sustenance._"

She laughed. "I'll bring Chinese."

"_Good, love you kid._"

"I love you too, mom." With those last words, Rory hung up and sighed. Things were going to work out. Her mom and Luke were back together and she didn't have to worry about her every second. It'd work out; she knew it.

After all, as Yhprum's law said: "Everything that can work, will work."

_The End._

----

Okay, so this is not how I thought I would end the story- I have always had a problem with ending stories for some reason… Anyways, I got several PM's from readers begging me to marry them, but I decided not to- hopefully this'll work. I'm in the middle of writing several different Gilmore Girl stories as well as a few different TV shows I've grown addicted to… hopefully I'll post them soon and hear from you again. Well… I guess there's only one thing left for me to say…

Please review!

**-**

**Murphy's Law: Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong...**

**Yhprum's Law: Everything that can work, will work...**

Hey, did anyone else notice that both laws are spelled backwards? ;)


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